Grand Canyon University is the latest evangelical school to launch a law school, corresponding with increased interest in preparing “Christian worldview” students for legal careers.
The Phoenix-based school announced Aug. 16 it plans to open a law school as early as fall 2027, pending approval by the Arizona Supreme Court justices, Higher Learning Commission and Arizona Board for Private Postsecondary Education. Accreditation also will be sought from the American Bar Association, a multi-year process.
The unnamed College of Law “would integrate the Christian worldview throughout its curriculum while emphasizing Constitutional law, free-market principles and the rule of law,” a news release said.
Brian Mueller.
“The legal profession plays a critical role in preserving the institutions and principles that make a free society possible,” said GCU President Brian Mueller. “We believe there is an opportunity to create a law school that produces outstanding attorneys while also grounding students in a Christian worldview, a deep understanding of the Constitution and an appreciation for the principles of free markets, individual liberty and the rule of law.”
This is the latest growth iteration of a school that began as Grand Canyon Baptist College, founded by the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention in 1949.
Faced with a looming financial crisis in 2004, trustees sold the school to California-based Significant Education, making it the first for-profit Christian college in the United States. After accomplishing meteoritic growth — partly through online learning — Grand Canyon College sought to regain its nonprofit status, sparking a fight with the U.S. Department of Education that lasted a decade until resolved by Donald Trump’s return to the White House in 2025.
Today, GCU claims to be the largest Christian university in the country, serving a total of 141,000 students during the current academic year. Last year’s on-campus enrollment was 24,671, meaning nearly four-fifths of GCU students are online learners.
Still, an on-campus enrollment approaching 25,000 students places GCU well above Liberty University’s on-campus enrollment of 16,000 students and Baylor University’s on-campus enrollment of about 20,000 students. For decades, Baylor was considered the largest Baptist university in the nation, but Liberty now claims that title, with about 140,000 students — most studying part-time and online.
GCU’s new law school will be at least the 16th based on the campus of a Protestant university. Other existing Protestant universities with law schools include Baylor, Liberty, Mercer University, Southern Methodist University, Emory University, University of Tulsa, Regent University, Pepperdine University, Belmont University, Campbell University, Mississippi College, Faulkner University, Samford University, Trinity International University and Capital University. Seven of those schools have historic Baptist identifications.
Other universities with historic Protestant ties that are less explicit today also have law schools, including Duke University and Wake Forest University, for example.
Both Regent University — founded by televangelist Pat Robertson — and Liberty University — founded by televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr. — are newer entries into the law school business. Their schools also emphasize a “biblical worldview,” which is most frequently code for conservative evangelical ideology.
One notable Baptist-affiliated law school that didn’t materialize is the Paul Pressler School of Law at Louisiana College (now Louisiana Christian University) where current Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was slated to become dean.
If approved, GCU would become the third ABA-accredited law school in Arizona, joining Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.
According to its news release, the university is currently conducting final interviews for the founding dean of the College of Law, with a selection expected in the coming weeks.