University of Detroit Mercy School of Law

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The University of Detroit, a Jesuit college founded in 1877, established its law department at its original downtown campus on East Jefferson Avenue in 1912, and the school earned American Bar Association accreditation in 1933. When the rest of the university later moved to its larger McNichols Road campus, the law school stayed behind on Jefferson Avenue, on the site of the university's founding location near the Detroit River. Greg Mathis, who grew up in Detroit public housing and turned his life around after a troubled youth, enrolled at the law school and earned his degree in 1987, a step that eventually led him to the bench as a Michigan judge and later to his long-running television courtroom show. The school became University of Detroit Mercy School of Law after the university merged with Mercy College of Detroit in 1990, and it continues to train lawyers from the same downtown campus today.

1. Law department established in 1912 on the university's original downtown campus
2. ABA-accredited since 1933
3. Stayed on East Jefferson Avenue after the rest of the university moved
4. Greg Mathis earned his law degree here in 1987
5. Became University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 1990