Ave Maria School of Law

Our history

Ave Maria School of Law was founded in 1999 through the generosity of well-known Catholic philanthropist Mr. Thomas S. Monaghan. The founder of Domino’s Pizza, Mr. Monaghan, sold the company in 1998 and decided to use the profits to advance several important causes, including Catholic legal education. Ave Maria Law’s first class began studies in August 2000 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In August 2005, the law school received full accreditation by the American Bar Association. Following a multi-year study, the law school relocated to Naples, Florida during the summer of 2009, and resides there today.

The founding board of governors included religious and political figures, including Henry Hyde, Edward Cardinal Egan, Robert P. George, Kate O’Beirne, Adam Cardinal Maida, Bowie Kuhn, Bishop Frank Joseph Dewane, and John Cardinal O’Connor. Robert Bork was an early faculty member, and Antonin Scalia and Charles E. Rice consulted on the structure of the curriculum. The National Catholic Reporter described the school as having “a more conservative religious orientation than any existing Catholic law school in the nation” and “militantly religious.”

As Mr. Monaghan often says, “next to priests and consecrated religious, lawyers are the most influential leaders in our country.” Ave Maria School of Law was founded as a Catholic law school that would provide a premier legal education enhanced by the Catholic intellectual tradition that recognizes the existence of objective moral truths and the inherent dignity of every human being. We hope our graduates will see the practice of law not as a separate compartment of their lives but as a vocation, an extension of lives lived in conformance with objective moral truths. We seek to accomplish this by developing in our students the knowledge and skills critical to the intelligent practice of the profession. We work to build in our students a mature judgment informed by exposure to Catholic moral and social teachings through which those students can analyze and approach problems and issues they will face in practice.

Mr. Thomas Monaghan

AVE MARIA LAW HISTORICAL TIMELINE

2020

3rd Annual Monsignor Higgins Respect for Life Celebration with Carol Tobias, President, National Right to Life Committee
January 17, 2020 4th Annual Veterans Memorial Celebration and Cancro Family Wellness Center Grand Opening
February 7, 2020 11th Annual Ave Law Lecture with The Honorable Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
March 11, 2020 Commencement Speakers for 2020 included The Honorable Callista Gingrich, Ambassador of the United States to the Holy See and Giselle Guzman, Class of 2020, virtual event
November 11, 2020 St. Martin of Tours Patron Saint of Veterans and Soldiers Hero Award Recipients, Casey Askar, Dale A. Mullin, and Carl D. Hinrichsen (Posthumously)
November 11, 2020 Profiles in Ethical Leadership Speakers for 2020 included: Thomas Garlick, ESQ., Board of Governors, Ave Maria School of Law (January 21, 2020), Peter Cancro, Founder and President, Jersey Mike’s Franchise Systems (February 7, 2020), Francis Rooney, Congressman, United States Representative, Florida’s 19th Congressional District and Former United States Ambassador to the Holy See (September 23, 2020), Michael Kane, Managing Director and CEO, Boral Limited (October 28, 2020), and Stephen Auth, CIO, Federated Global Equities (November 13, 2020) Honorary Degree Recipients for 2020 included James Fennessey (Posthumously), The Honorable Neil M. Gorsuch and William LaMothe

2021

Dean John Czarnetzky with Business Law Fellows in 2021.

May 2021: Announcement of the Coach Rod Smith Business Law Institute, following the receipt of a substantial gift from Peter and Tatiana Cancro. Cancro is the Founder and C.E.O. of Jersey Mike’s restaurant chain. The goal of the Business Law Institute is to become a national and global leader in the study, research, and practice of business law. The academic component of the program will be launched in August 2021. Long-range plans include hosting an international conference on business law bringing together practitioners, academics, business leaders, and students. The business component of the institute will be spearheaded by Peter Cancro and Ave Maria School of Law founder and chairman of the board, Tom Monaghan. The institute will allow students to learn about the connection of the legal and business worlds, confronting emerging issues that may include franchising, compliance, commercial law, corporate governance, securities practice, federal tax planning, intellectual property, business ethics, and real estate.
June 1, 2021- John M. Czarnetzky appointed Chief Executive Officer and fourth Dean of Ave Maria School of Law. Before serving as Dean, John was an officer in the United States Army, practiced bankruptcy and commercial law, taught at the University of Mississippi School of Law—receiving the Elsie M. Hood Award for Outstanding Professor. In addition, he serves as a legal advisor to the Holy See’s Mission to the United Nations, representing the Holy See in negotiations, including establishing the International Criminal Court.
Dean Czarnetzky arrives at Ave Maria School of Law at the close of its first twenty years, leading the school into the next chapter, which he refers to as “Ave Law 2.0.”
October: The Catholic Bar Association, founded by Ave Law alumnus Joshua McCaig, holds its annual meeting on the campus of Ave Law.