The inaugural class at Thomas M. Cooley Law School's Tampa Bay, Fla. campus will begin classes Monday evening, school officials said in a press release.
"Cooley's Tampa Bay Campus enrollment exceeded our expectations," said Jeff Martlew, associate dean of Cooley's Tampa Bay campus. "These numbers indicate the Tampa Bay area was ready for a law school. We are pleased to open our doors with such enthusiasm from the community and the students who have selected Cooley."
Officials announced the plan to open the Florida campus in September.
The inaugural class is nearly double the size officials had originally projected, with 104 students scheduled to begin evening classes.
Offerings will expand to include morning classes in September, and afternoon classes in January 2013.
The full curriculum will be rolled out over a three-year period. Once it's in place, Cooley will employ approximately 65 full time faculty and staff and about 35 part-time faculty in the Tampa Bay area.
Cooley's Tampa Bay campus is located at 9445 Camden Field Parkway, Riverview, Fla.
Renovations to turn an existing building into a state-of-the-art law school began in September, 2011and are expected to be complete in late 2012. Once complete, the renovated 132,000-square-foot building will include a 25,000-square-foot law library, 336-seat auditorium and 24 classrooms.
The campus will accommodate nearly 700 students.
The Tampa Bay campus is Cooley's fifth, and its first outside Michigan.
Existing campuses are located in Lansing, Grand Rapids, Auburn Hills and Ann Arbor.
E-mail Angela Wittrock: awittroc at mlive dot com and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/AngelaWittrock and Facebook, or reach her by phone at 517.219.7073.
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