Our Mission

Ave Maria School of Law is a Catholic law school dedicated to educating lawyers with the finest professional skills. Inspired by Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Fides et Ratio, Ave Maria School of Law offers a distinctive legal education – an education characterized by the harmony of faith and reason. Formed by outstanding professional training and a distinctive educational philosophy, Ave Maria Law’s graduates are equipped for leading positions in law firms, corporate legal offices, the judiciary, and national, state, and local government.

Ave Maria School of Law offers an outstanding legal education in fidelity to the Catholic Faith, as expressed through Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the teaching authority of the Church. University legal education began in Catholic universities, and Catholic law schools have been the bearers of a tradition that safeguards the dignity of the human person and the common good. Ave Maria School of Law affirms Catholic legal education’s traditional emphasis on the only secure foundation for human freedom – the natural law written on the heart of every human being. We affirm the need for society to rediscover those human and moral truths that flow from the nature of the human person and that safeguard human freedom. Ave Maria School of Law recognizes the central and indispensable role of the Ordinary of the Diocese of Venice in promoting and assisting in the preservation and strengthening of the School’s Catholic identity.

This substantive vision underlies all of our activities:

• Educating lawyers with the finest professional skills – Ave Maria Law is dedicated to providing an outstanding legal education. Our students receive the training necessary for them to be lawyers of professional distinction.
• Excellence in teaching – Our commitment to excellence in teaching goes beyond training students in the necessary technical legal skills. Our students are trained to reflect critically on the law and their role within the legal system. Our teaching integrates the moral and social teaching of the Catholic Church with the more conventional aspects of legal education and forms persons capable of leading flourishing lives through their vocation in the law.
• Dedication to research and scholarship – Ave Maria Law recognizes that within each person there exists a yearning for truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it. Our faculty joins in the enterprise of research, discovery, and communicating truth in their areas of expertise. Our faculty evaluates the subjects of their studies in light of the moral and social teachings of the Church.
• Serving the common good – We recognize that all areas of legal practice, both public and private, serve the common good. Some of our graduates will serve the profession in private practice, while others will serve in legal aid organizations or in other areas of public service, in the academy, and in business.
• Building a community – The Ave Maria School of Law community of faculty, administrators, mentors, students, alumni, and staff is based on the inherent dignity of every human being stemming from our creation in the image and likeness of God and raised to a new level by our redemption by Jesus Christ. In recognition of the dignity of all, this community welcomes people of all faiths who wish to receive the education we provide and to join with us in our dedication to the truth.