Trinity Law School

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Trinity Law School is one of five law schools in the United States that teach law from a Christian perspective. It is the only one of the five schools that is a California Bar Examiners approved law school. It was founded in 1980 as Simon Greenleaf School of Law. It was originally named in honor of the Nineteenth century Harvard law professor Simon Greenleaf, who wrote The Testimony of the Evangelists.

The Simon Greenleaf School of Law was started by John Warwick Montgomery, an attorney/educator and Walter Martin, a Christian apologist. The school offered both the J.D. and M.A. degrees. In 1997, Simon Greenleaf University merged with Trinity International University [1] in Deerfield, Illinois. The school remained in California, but was renamed the Trinity Law School.

The school's website [2] describes it as follows, "Trinity Law School is a Christian law school. We are committed to the belief that Christianity should affect every aspect of life and business. This includes legal practice and public policy. Courses at Trinity Law School seek to provide a student not only with the same knowledge of the law they would obtain at a secular law school, but with an understanding of law and legal practice that is fully integrated with biblical principles and the Christian worldview. We want graduates of Trinity Law School to be equipped to effectively criticize current public policy and propose superior public policy alternatives. We want Trinity graduates to be equipped to defend their faith in the marketplace of ideas and, if necessary, in the courts. We want Trinity graduates to be able to aid those who are being oppressed, to free those unjustly condemned, and to work for justice in every level and aspect of society. We seek to instill in Trinity students the realization that law is a profession committed to the whole good of individuals and society, not just a trade or means to earn a living. This integrative approach takes place both in each class dedicated to an individual legal subject and in specialized classes such as Jurisprudence and Legal Institutions and Values that deal directly with philosophical and theological issues."

Trinity offers the J.D. degree, which qualifies its graduates to sit for the California bar exam. The Interim Dean of Trinity Law School is Myron S. Steeves, Esq.