About Duncan School of Law

In accordance with its mission to serve the underserved of Appalachia by providing educational opportunities, Lincoln Memorial University announced plans to pursue a Doctor of Jurisprudence program when it acquired the lease on Knoxville’s historic “Old City Hall Building” in February 2008. Since then LMU hired Sydney A. Beckman to lead the program as dean and Gordon Russell to help lay the foundation as Associate dean and director of the Law Library. Fast forward to March 2009 and the fledgling program had already achieved Tennessee Board of Law Examiner’s approval to open and had begun accepting its inaugural class. By the end of that month, the LMU-John J. Duncan, Jr., School of Law, or LMU-Duncan School of Law (LMU-DSOL) for short, was building a name for itself by recruiting some of the brightest legal minds from all over the country to fill-out the faculty. In August, 2009 the first wave of renovations were complete and LMU-DSOL opened its doors to a highly qualified inaugural class. In the fall of 2010, LMU-DSOL took another step in its journey when it initiated a full-time day program to accompany the part-time evening program and began the accreditation process with the American Bar Association.