DURHAM, NC – Duke Law School’s new Star Commons has been recognized for its highly sustainable design and operations, receiving LEED certification from the US Green Building Council. The light-filled Star Commons is highly energy-efficient, with vapor barriers for heat conservation and high-performance glazing. Great care was taken to recycle a high percentage of construction debris from the project, which also emphasized the use of materials low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

The 4,000 s.f. Commons was part of a larger addition and renovation project for the law school, which included a renovation of ...[more]

RALEIGH, NC – Campbell University opened the doors to the new home of the Wiggins School of Law today, giving Raleigh its first law school. The school had previously been located on the university campus in nearby Buies Creek.

Law School dean Melissa Essary and Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker welcomed students to the new school, which its13 classrooms, 175-seat auditorium and 25,000 square foot library. In addition, the Raleigh division of the North Carolina Business Court will be co-located with the school, giving students the opportunity for hands-on legal experience.

This is the latest law school designed by Shepley Bulfinch. Other current and recent law school clients include Duke University, Marquette University, ...[more]

RALEIGH, NC – Campbell University’s Wiggins School of Law is reporting an increase of 25 percent in applications for admission, a trend that the school attributes directly to its relocation this fall from the main campus to downtown Raleigh. “The excitement around Campbell Law’s relocation to Raleigh is palpable,” said Dean Melissa Essary. “The outpouring of interest in Campbell Law and our new location is testimony to the strength of our program and the desire of many promising lawyers to live, study, and work in this dynamic city.”

Campbell Law opens for classes in September. The new location offers an increase of 40 percent over its current home, with 13 classrooms, ...[more]

DURHAM, NC – The Winter 2009 edition of Duke Law Magazine makes it clear: Law School faculty, students, staff, and alumni are all reveling in the new J. Michael Goodson Library and Star Commons. In the article, “From Library to Commons” writer Forrest Norman recaps the building’s November 8 dedication, which included a keynote address by US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Duke President Richard Brodhead is quoted as saying “When you reach the point where a great law school has a great building, you realize it wasn’t just an ornament. It really is an enabler of things.”

In the words of Duke Law alumnus George Krouse, “The combination of this ...[more]

DURHAM, NC – US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was the keynote speaker at the dedication last week for Duke University Law School’s new Star Commons and newly renovated Goodson Law Library. Joining him on stage for the event were University President Richard Brodhead and Law School Dean David Levi.

More than 500 students, faculty, staff, and alumni filled the Commons for the event. In his remarks, Dean Levi noted, “We now have facilities that match the strength of our faculty and students. As spectacular as this building is, we are most proud of the community it symbolizes and the work it facilitates.”

The project, completed on time and under budget for ...[more]

MILWAUKEE, WI – In an article published in today’s Business Journal of Milwaukee, Law School Dean Joseph Kearney described the new law school, Eckstein Hall, as a building that advances the unique role of the law school as an “intellectual commons and a space for the development of law and public policy”.

The unique integration of the law school library creates the sense of a “library without borders” by making it accessible from all levels of the school.

Ralph Jackson, Principal for Design, described Zilber Forum, the buidling’s four-story atrium, as its most stunning space and one designed to foster a collaborative learning environment.

Ground was broken for Eckstein Hall in May ...[more]

Milwaukee, WI – Marquette University will celebrate the groundbreaking of its new Law School building in a ceremony on May 22. The Board of Trustees gave final approval for the project on May 7.

“We recognize the importance the Law School has always had in educating lawyers of the highest skill and ethical caliber,” said Marquette president Rev. Robert A. Wild, SJ. “This new building will allow our first-rate faculty to deliver the very best in legal education to a new generation.”

The building will be named Eckstein Hall in honor of the $51 million donation from Raymond and Katherine Eckstein, an alumni couple. The 200,000 sf building will include two courtrooms, ...[more]

RALEIGH, NC – Shepley Bulfinch has been selected as design architect for the Wiggins School of Law for Campbell University, in association with Small Kane of Raleigh. The $13 million project will relocate the Law School from the University’s main campus in Buies Creek, NC, to downtown Raleigh. Plans call for the complete renovation of a 107,000 sf building, including the development of a state-of-the-art law library, courtrooms, classrooms, common spaces, and gathering spaces. The redesigned law school is scheduled to open in August 2009.

Shepley Bulfinch has a wide range of law school design experience, including projects for Marquette and Georgetown Universities and the nation’s first LEED Gold law school ...[more]