Bench & Bar January/February 2026

COLUMNS

CHASE CUTS THE RIBBON ON ITS NEW COURTROOM

T he past is shaping the future at Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law with the opening of a new, state-of the-art courtroom named for the legacy foundation created 72 years ago to support Chase when it was an independent, private college. In the present, Chase formally opened the Chase College Foundation Courtroom with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 20. From the past, the Chase College Foun dation, which was established in 1954 and which has continued to support Chase financially since its 1972 merger with Northern Kentucky University, provided the major funding for the project on the first floor of Nunn Hall. Alumni and college friends provided additional financial sup port for specific features, such as the judicial bench, counsel tables and other aspects.

For the future, the courtroom will provide students with opportunities for trial advo cacy classes and mock trials in a setting with the type of technology and features they will be likely to encounter in practices. In addi tion to its use by students, the courtroom will be available for sessions of the Supreme Court of Kentucky, the Kentucky Court of Appeals, other commonwealth and federal courts, and community groups. Among courtroom features: a judicial bench for up to seven members of a court, jury box, 100-seat gallery, judge’s chambers and jury deliberation room. “We are thrilled to unveil our brand-new courtroom and student center after four years in the making,” Dean Judith Daar says of the project that includes adjacent student study and gathering spaces. “Our students can now learn in a space befitting the Chase reputation for training practice-ready grad uates who ably assist clients at the earliest

stages of their careers. We are enormously grateful to the more than 125 alumni and friends who generously supported this proj ect, making our dream of a state-of-the-art advocacy center a reality.” The new courtroom emerged from, and replaced, an initial plan to remodel an existing courtroom on the fourth-floor of Nunn Hall. The convergence of the avail ability of designated facility money from the Commonwealth of Kentucky and structural factors in the building shifted the project to an all-new, state-of-the-art concept. From there, the funding for the courtroom rip pled outward, showcased in the Nov. 20 ribbon-cutting. “I want to give thanks to our naming gift that came from the Chase College Founda tion. They believed in us early on, and they gave us a gift that allowed us to name the courtroom in their honor,” Dean Daar told benefactors and alumni who gathered at the

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