Practice Management

I am speaking of course about Belmont University and the new College of Law it is planning to open in the fall of 2011.  The stakes could not be higher for the University or for the State of Tennessee.

Belmont University is a private liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee.  It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state, behind Vanderbilt University.

Belmont is still recognized by many as an arm of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, but the University actually severed its ties in 2007.

Many people still remember the presidential debates that took place at the school on October 7, 2008.

The University has over 5,300 students in both its undergraduate and postgraduate programs and it sits on an historic 75 acre campus.

Of course it is in Nashville and music plays a big part in the school.  The University developed Nashville's first radio station in 1922.  (I like this story - a 16 year old high school student installed the transmitter).

The University is home to the only AACSB International accredited Music Business program in the world - the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business.  The University has three professional-quality recording studios on campus and owns the Ocean Way Nashville Recording Studios, a for-profit studio used by artist like Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow and Bob Seger.  It also operates the historic RCA Studio B in conjunction with the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Mike Curb Family Foundation.  And, its students can spend a semester in Los Angeles and New York City learning about and interning in the entertainment industry.

The University has a number of other accomplishments, but now it plans to add the first new law school in middle Tennessee in a century beginning in 2011.  A closely guarded secret until now, the move it has been in the planning for the last 5 years.

Belmont Law, in looking for a way to set itself apart from Vanderbilt University Law School, is considering aligning itself with its music program and promoting degrees in intellectual property.

The University plans to spend $25 million to build a 75,000 square foot law school and law library building.  It will hire 20 new faculty members.  Its first class will have about 120 students and tuition will be between $25,000 to $35,000 a year.