Belmont University announced today it plans to open a law school in fall of 2011. The school’s president says it’s not looking to compete with other law programs in the area. Rather, it will focus on a few Nashville-specific tracks.
Right now about 65 percent of Belmont’s students come from outside Tennessee, but the law program anticipates an almost even mixture between in-state and out-of-state.
University President Bob Fisher says that’s because law students tend to want to study and eventually practice close to home. So Belmont will focus on areas applicable to Nashville. Fisher says one area would be entertainment law – issues like copyright and intellectual property.
“All that for music city and publishing city USA, and that’s Nashville, and then another track perhaps that would be focused on healthcare issues for healthcare city USA, and that’s Nashville too.”
Fisher says the university will break ground on a new building for the School of Law in a few months. When full the program will enroll some 350 students.
Fisher says tuition will run around $30 to 32 thousand a year for the three-year program.
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