Law Center History
On September 1, 1947, the Southern University School of Law was officially opened. After 38 years of operation as a School of Law, the Southern University Board of Supervisors redesignated the Southern University School of Law as the Southern University Law Center, effective July 1, 1985.
Students are trained in the art of advocacy, legal research, legal theory, and social purposes of legal principles in the civil and common law systems. Techniques to strengthen the students’ abilities in legal reasoning are an integral part of the educational objectives of the Law Center. Students are instructed in the ethics of the legal profession with emphasis on the professional responsibility of the lawyer to society. The program of study prepares students for varied career opportunities for lawyers in government service, private enterprise, and non-traditional legal-related professions.
The Law Center is fully accredited by the American Bar Association, the Supreme Court of Louisiana, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. It is also approved by the Veterans Administration for the training of eligible veterans.
The Law Center is in Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana. With a population of over 400,000, this seat of state government includes numerous state agencies and courts. As a hub of legal activity, Baton Rouge offers law students many opportunities to participate in state government through interaction with the legislature, state agencies and private law firms.
Baton Rouge, the tenth largest port in the United States, is located on the Mississippi River in culturally rich South Louisiana, an area known throughout the world for its excellence in food, its fine music, and its enjoyable lifestyles. New Orleans, America’s picturesque European, particularly French, city, which is a tourist’s delight, is only 80 miles away. Every year New Orleans, along with many other Louisiana cities and towns, hosts a number of popular festivals attracting thousands from around the world.
Housed in A. A. Lenoir Hall, named for the first dean of the original School of Law, the Law Center facility consists of administrative and faculty offices, classrooms, study areas and office space for student organization, lounges and restrooms for faculty, staff, and students; seminar rooms; a law library, with a computer-assisted learning laboratory; and a moot courtroom. The Law Center building is located on the main campus of the Southern University System.
The Law Center occupies 98,400 square feet, which includes a 13,400 square-foot North Wing added to the facilities in 2009. During the 2010-11 academic year, a Law Center’s Clinical Education Annex was opened next door to the main hall. The new space allows in-house clinics to operate using a law firm model and facilitates student and faculty collaboration across clinics. The entire Law Center is wireless and is equipped with a state-of-the-art audio and video system that allows for distance learning and Internet broadcast.