Graphic: Proposed north entrance to new law school building, and thumbnails of floorplans.

New Building – Opened July 2023!

Our dream of creating a state-of-the-art Law School building has become a reality.

  • The Washburn University Board of Regents approved the project.
  • Architects proceeded with the detailed design for the new School of Law building on the southeast corner of campus at 21st Street and Washburn Avenue (see the architect renderings).
  • Groundbreaking occurred on Friday, June 11, 2021 (indoors, unfortunately, due to weather; see photos).
  • Ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 21, 2023 (see livestream video; jump to timestamp 6:40 in video for ceremony event start).

Imagine.

A law school that allows students to go anywhere around the globe, to gain the knowledge and experience they need while developing relationships that will support their professional aspirations.

An exciting new enrollment option at Washburn Law, called Third Year Anywhere®, will provide students this opportunity. Through enrollment in an immersive externship, third year students will practice law 20 hours per week under the supervision of a licensed lawyer and take online coursework. This is just one way Washburn Law is reimagining legal education.

To enhance this curricular enrollment option and meet the evolving expectations of students, Washburn Law needs a new facility with integrated technology in classrooms. Integrating technology into classrooms will enable the law school to broadcast class sessions to students who are in a remote field placement beyond a commutable distance to Topeka, Kansas.

Legal Education From A Distance

Legal education has embraced distance education as a form of instruction. It is imperative for the law school to develop a curriculum that integrates distance learning and enhances student accessibility of legal education. To accomplish this, the law faculty needs a state-of-the-art recording studio. Faculty will be able to self-record lectures using a teleprompter, reducing the need to look away from the camera. These lectures will be uploaded to an online course management system that allows students to watch them from anywhere.

The new building will afford Washburn Law the capability to engage in live lecture capture. Class sessions will be automatically recorded and uploaded so that students who were absent, or who want to review for clarification or enhanced understanding, can view any or all of the class again.

As we look to the next 50 years and beyond, Washburn Law seeks to position itself for the future by adapting our learning environment to accommodate new trends in legal education while also preserving our longstanding tradition of providing the best legal education to our students.

How You Can Help

Washburn Law's current building opened in 1969, at a time when the internet did not exist and wifi permeability was a nonexistant factor in building construction. Renovation of the existing law school building is unlikely to yield the best environment for 21st century law study and would cost nearly as much as the construction of a new facility.

Consequently, Washburn University continues its campaign to raise the funds necessary to construct a new law school building on the southeast corner of the campus with a total budget of $33 million. With the University providing $20 million of the funding, and the law school having raised $10 million, the remaining funds needed for construction total $3 million. Construction of this new facility will afford Washburn University School of Law a building that represents the cutting edge, forward thinking legal education that Washburn Law delivers to its students.

Your gift, and financial support from donors like you, will helped Washburn Law's highly regarded programs continue to evolve.

Photograph: Michael Manning.

Michael Manning, J.D. '77, Honorary '07: $1 million capstone building campaign gift.

Photograph: Cynthia Heath.

Cynthia Heath: $1 million challenge met.

Photograph: Larry and Annette Gurney.

"Our motivation was out of gratitude to Washburn Law School. The quality education we received enabled us to have satisfying careers, as well as raise and educate our children. We viewed the law school building project as a way to enhance what Washburn already does well."
Larry, BBA '81, JD '84, & Annette Gurney, BA '80, JD '83, on why they gave to the Law School Building Fund.