Grand Canyon University, a private Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona, is moving ahead with a law school that it says will combine legal training with a Christian worldview. The university named Phoenix attorney James L. Williams as the school's first dean, according to a press release from GCU on Oct. 8.
GCU first announced plans for the College of Law in late August, when it said it was in final interviews for a founding dean. The school could admit its first students as early as fall 2027 but still needs approval from state and accrediting bodies before it can open. It would be the university's 12th college.
"We are not simply building another law school," GCU President Brian Mueller said in the release. He said the university wants to join academic study with "Christian worldview principles and free market thinking" and to train attorneys who see their influence in their communities as a responsibility.
GCU is seeking authorization from the Supreme Court of Arizona, which oversees admission to practice law in the state. It also needs approval from the Higher Learning Commission, a U.S. regional accreditor, and the Arizona Board for Private Postsecondary Education.
After that, the university plans to apply for accreditation from the American Bar Association, the main accrediting body for U.S. law schools. The release describes that as a separate process expected to take several years.
If the Arizona court grants authorization, graduates who meet its requirements could apply for admission to the state bar, according to GCU. With ABA accreditation, GCU would become Arizona's third accredited law school, joining Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.
Williams has practiced law in Arizona for 18 years and is a shareholder at the Phoenix firm Schmitt Schneck Even & Williams. He is president of the Phoenix chapter of the Christian Legal Society, an association of Christian lawyers and law students, and has served on the chapter's board for a decade. He is a graduate of the Baylor University School of Law in Texas.
Williams said building the school from its beginnings would allow GCU to decide deliberately what kind of lawyers it wants to produce.
"GCU students will be challenged academically, prepared professionally and encouraged to think deeply about the purpose of their work and the responsibility they have to serve others," he said. "I am confident this is a work God has begun in and through GCU, and that He will be faithful to complete it."
Outside his practice, Williams has coached students in the mock trial competition program at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. Justin Larson, who took part from 2017 to 2019 and is now an assistant attorney general in Colorado, called him "an indispensable mentor and friend" to young lawyers.
Williams is also an elder and worship leader at New City Church in Phoenix.
"The law touches virtually every part of our society, which means attorneys have an extraordinary opportunity — and responsibility — to influence the culture around them," Williams said in the university's announcement. He said he hoped the school would send graduates into courts, businesses, government and communities as "men and women of courage, humility, integrity and faith."
Founded in 1949, GCU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and offers about 400 academic programs, emphases and certificates in person and online, according to the university.
