ASU Law Moving to Downtown Phoenix

Arizona State University recently announced that it will be moving its Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law from Tempe to downtown Phoenix, Arizona. The Phoenix City Council and Arizona Board of Regents have approved plans for development of ASU’s Arizona Center for Law and Society. ASU will reportedly spend between $100 and $120 million to build the law center. Phoenix city will give ASU $3 million when construction starts and another $9 million as development progresses to sweeten the deal.

The new center could eventually house as many as 1,000 ASU law students downtown. The law school will be built on a city owned parking lot bounded by Polk, Taylor, First and Second Street and is just southeast of ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Construction on the new law school is slated to start in early 2014 with the completion expected in late 2015. The school is expected to be up and running for the Spring semester of 2016. The ASU building will be six stories tall and encompass 250,000 to 300,000 square feet.

“This is an investment that makes sense for ASU College of Law, its students and the city of Phoenix,” said Phoenix Councilman Bill Gates in a statement. “The move will position one of our nation’s top public law schools within walking distance of local, state and federal courts, our state’s top law firms and business headquarters.” ASU’s law school is currently public though rumor has it that they are trying to privatize the law school. Maybe this new building is part of the privatization plan...