www.loubar.org 16 Louisville Bar Briefs Chase College of Law Opens a New Courtroom (Top photo) The Chase College Foundation Courtroom is a state-of-the-art facil- ity for student advocacy training and trial teams, as well as actual proceedings. (Bottom photo) During an opening ceremony for the Chase College Foundation Courtroom, Chase Dean Judith Daar addresses attendees, while alumni speakers are seated at counsel tables, from left, Supreme Court of Kentucky Deputy Chief Justice Robert Conley, Supreme Court Justice Michelle Keller, Warren County, Kentucky, County Attorney Amy Hale Chandler and Chase College Foundation Trustee James Frooman. The new Chase College Foundation Courtroom at Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law has a story to tell. It is the story of how a 72-year-old foundation and more than 125 alumni and friends of the college funded a state-of-the-art facility that will prepare students to step into the courtrooms of their futures. While planning and fundraising for the courtroom began more than four years ago, the culmination of the project occurred less than a year ago, late in 2025, with a ceremonial opening of the courtroom on the first floor of Nunn Hall, on the NKU campus in Highland Heights. Speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for benefactors and alumni, Chase Dean Judith Daar acknowledged that “I want to give thanks to our naming gift that came from the Chase College Foundation. They believed in us early on, and they gave us a gift that allowed us to name the courtroom in their honor. Over the past four years, we’ve been so buoyed by 125-plus supporters of this project, from alumni and from supporters all around the region.” That support resulted in a courtroom enclosed by rich oak-tone wall panels, with a judicial bench that spans 20 feet, a moveable podium in front of it, contemporary-design counsel tables and chairs, and seven rows of gallery seating. The bench can accommodate a single trial judge (actual or mock), a three-judge appellate panel or a seven-member session of the Supreme Court of Kentucky. A witness stand is at the front, and the facing jury box accommodates 12. On the walls are video screens that link to monitors before judges and to laptops at counsel tables. Behind it all are judicial chambers and a jury deliberation room. It is an arrangement designed for both real and mock proceedings. A panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals has convened there. Student trial teams and advocacy classes regularly present arguments and evidence in front of mock judges. And a Chase-sponsored regional mock trial competition and a sympo- sium have gathered there. While the courtroom has both the visual and functional imprint of Chase, it is also a fusion of features that might be considered as comprising the perfect courtroom. “When we visited working courtrooms across the region, we asked the presiding judges about the technology they utilized,” Dean Daar says. “We learned that sound projection and evidence display were among the most important features of any technology package. We also gave attention to sight lines for the jury, judges, attorneys and gallery audience. We designed the Chase courtroom so that all arguments, presentations, videos and other communications could be heard and viewed by anyone in the room.” Among alumni who spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony – Supreme Court of Ken- tucky Deputy Chief Justice Robert Conley, Supreme Court Justice Michelle Keller and Warren County, Kentucky, County Attorney Amy Hale Chandler, the courtroom was a springboard from their Chase years toward the future. • Deputy Chief Justice Conley: “When I walked in here, I was, ‘Wow, what planet am I on?’ It doesn’t look anything like the school I graduated from in 1984. … This courtroom is first-class. It’s going to be invaluable to the students, in teaching them trial-practice for a changing profession. The technology is just mind-blowing.” • Justice Keller: “This courtroom looks a lot different than the one I did my first oral argument in [as a student], but I feel just as excited today as I did then.” • Ms. Chandler: “Driving in, I felt like when I first came to Chase, all of the excitement surrounding me. … I remembered my trial advocacy class. I remember [the courtroom] did not look like this. But I learned how to present the case, which has helped me so much in my career. … A space like this is absolutely invaluable to students. They can refine their skills long before the stakes are high. And the students can begin to see themselves as true and real advocates.” For Chase College of Law, the Chase College Foundation, alumni and college friends, along with being a new space, the courtroom is an ongoing story of opportunity for students. www.loubar.org 16 Louisville Bar Briefs Law Schools in the Bluegrass
