Northern Kentucky University – Salmon P. Chase College of Law opened its new, state-of-the-art Chase College Foundation Courtroom and Chase Student Center in November.
The courtroom will provide students with opportunities for trial advocacy classes and mock trials in a setting with the type of technology they will be likely to encounter in law practice. It features a judicial bench for up to seven members of a court, jury box, 100-seat gallery, judge’s chambers and jury deliberation room.
In addition to its use by students, the courtroom will be available for sessions of the Supreme Court of Kentucky, the Kentucky Court of Appeals, other commonwealth and federal courts and community groups.
The student center includes nine glass-wall-fronted study rooms, multiple carrels and booths for study, boardroom-length tables and a common area for relaxing or gathering.
Dean Judith Daar said the project was four years in the making.
“Our students can now learn in a space befitting the Chase reputation for training practice-ready graduates who ably assist clients at the earliest stages of their careers,” Daar said. “We are enormously grateful to the more than 125 alumni and friends who generously supported this project, making our dream of a state-of-the-art advocacy center a reality.”
The transformation of the Chase Law Library from primarily a repository for bound volumes to a hub for accessing digitally stored information opened the first floor of the two-floor library for these new spaces.
The new courtroom emerged from, and replaced, an initial plan to remodel an existing courtroom on the fourth floor of Nunn Hall.
The convergence of availability of designated facility money from the Commonwealth of Kentucky and structural factors in the building shifted the project to an all-new, state-of-the-art concept. From there, the funding for the courtroom rippled outward with Chase College Foundation providing major funding for the project.
