Building the Future of Ohio State Law
Building the Future of Ohio State Law
At 17 South High Street, every direction leads to opportunity.
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law looks forward to calling 17 S. High Street, a historic downtown landmark once the site of Huntington National Bank, its home. Located fewer than three miles from Ohio State's main campus, the move will position Moritz where the law is practiced, shaped, challenged, and lived every day while maintaining a strong connection to our campus community. Our students will connect daily with the courts, lawmakers, law firms, public agencies, businesses, nonprofits, and communities that will define their professional lives. This opportunity also brings Ohio’s flagship university into the heart of downtown Columbus, enabling world-class researchers and scholars to engage with decision makers and create an even greater impact.
“Being in walking distance to courts, policymakers, law firms, and public‑interest organizations dramatically expands opportunities for externships, clerkships, clinical experiences and meaningful mentorship,” explained Kent Barnett, dean of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. “This location also amplifies the impact of our faculty’s research and community-focused programming, allowing us to engage more directly in our land-grant mission while visibly shaping the rule of law.”
The College of Law expects to open its downtown location in fall of 2029. Read the full announcement here.
Moot Courtroom
Grand Events Center
Flexible Classrooms
Law Library
Student Lounge
These renderings are for conceptual purposes only.
For 135 years, the College of Law is where generations of brilliant minds have discovered their purpose, and their place in the future. The college's move to downtown Columbus represents a homecoming of sorts for the law school, which began its journey in 1891 in the Franklin County Courthouse.
Much like our academic purpose, our physical location is at the crossroads of the law, government, business, and community. The new location places the law school within walking distance of the institutions, organizations, and communities that define the legal profession. Surrounded by Ohio State's academic resources, the Ohio Statehouse, leading law firms, businesses, local courts, the Supreme Court of Ohio, and the Kinneary U.S. Courthouse, the new location creates unparalleled opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, policymaking, experiential learning, professional networking, and public service. Together, these neighbors reflect the many ways lawyers shape society, uphold the rule of law, strengthen communities, and drive economic growth.
17 S. High Street
Please contact Ben Johnson for all media inquiries.
Help shape the future of legal education by donating to our new fund.
The decision to relocate the College of Law to downtown Columbus is the result of years of thoughtful planning, collaboration, and shared vision among College and University leadership. Since 2024, leaders have carefully explored how best to position the College to serve future generations of students while strengthening connections to the legal profession, the civic community, and the city we call home. Throughout this process, we have actively engaged representatives from across our stakeholder groups, including current students, alumni, faculty, staff, hiring partners, and community partners, to gather perspectives, identify opportunities, and better understand priorities. That collaboration will continue throughout the design process and transition.
We recognize that you may still have questions, and we will continue to update these FAQs throughout the planning, development, and transition process as additional information becomes available.
Frequently Asked Questions
The move downtown to Capitol Square promotes a professional-facing identity for our students from day one because they are in the heart of the Ohio capital’s civic and legal life; allows easier walking-distance access to experiential opportunities, networking, and interviewing options; and encourages more regular interaction among our community with civic leaders, policymakers and practitioners, rendering the College the hub of legal education and engagement. The location also provides easy access to the future Capital Line, the Arena District, Franklinton, German Village, and numerous other amenities and residential options.
Fall 2029. The College will continue regular operations at Drinko Hall until the downtown location is complete.
We analyzed where students live currently and compared campus area rental rates to downtown and surrounding area rental rates as we considered this option. Based on those findings, there is no evidence that housing costs for students will increase. The College plans to work with downtown and nearby landlords to cultivate even more housing opportunities for students. Students will continue to have transportation options that provide easy access to downtown from the University District along with neighborhoods surrounding downtown, including German Village, Grandview, Brewery District, Franklinton, Clintonville, Victorian Village, among many others.
No. The University has negotiated parking rates as a term of the agreement for both students and employees that will be equal to or less than the cost of on-campus parking. The parking spaces made available at campus rates will be in the attached garage or nearby garages and lots managed by Downtown Columbus, Inc. We are also having conversations with other private parking operators nearby. For many of our students and clinical faculty who frequently visit downtown, this will save them money on parking. Some students who already have parking downtown covered by their employers may significantly reduce their parking costs. We will provide more details nearer in time to the move. Please rest assured parking has been and will continue to be a high-priority matter for the College.
Our convenient location makes commuting easy for those who ride COTA, walk, or ride their bikes. Our building is one block from the Olentangy Trail, on the High Street bus line and on the future LinkUS Bus Rapid Transit network. COTA offers free, unlimited rides to Ohio State students during the academic year. Downtown Columbus, Inc. is also implementing the first phase of the Capital Line, which will be a two-mile urban pathway around downtown exclusively for cyclists and pedestrians.
The College of Law is working closely with our campus partners to ensure that our most used services and amenities will continue to be available to our students, faculty, and staff. We are being very intentional, thinking about transportation, events, health services, recreation, student services, and course scheduling. Our advisory committee, comprised of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, will be important partners in these efforts. When speaking with other law schools who have transitioned to downtown facilities from campus, we were reassured to learn that the universal concern over losing connection with campus did not materialize. That said, we are spending a significant amount of our planning time to ensure that we maintain our connection to the main campus and provide an excellent student experience that can take advantage of downtown, campus, and everything in between. More specific details about these efforts will be shared as we get closer to the transition.
The building has been designed from the beginning with safety in mind and in consultation with our Department of Public Safety. As we do now, we will continue to have a dedicated security officer to monitor the visitor access to our facility. Additionally, our location in Capitol Square is nearby law enforcement due to our proximity to the Statehouse, Ohio Supreme Court, the Riffe Center, and the Columbus Division of Police (CPD) headquarters. Ohio State has a close working relationship with CPD and will continue to at this downtown location.
Absolutely! We continue to welcome their engagement and input. We have already been working with groups of faculty, staff, students, and alumni as part of our consideration and preparation process. Our advisory committee, comprised of students, faculty, staff, and alumni will support our efforts to ensure all voices are represented. There will be several opportunities over the next few years for members of the community to provide input. The many, varied voices will help us make this move an even bigger success.
The University is still determining what the future for Drinko Hall will look like.
No. Student tuition is not a funding source for this project. Any future tuition increases would be unrelated to this project and would reflect standard considerations, such as inflation, consistent with past University practices.
Yes! Our community will have access to utilize many different green spaces that are walking distance from our building. Below are just a few:
- Ohio Statehouse lawn (2 min walk)
- Scioto Mile (6 min walk)
- John F. Wolfe Columbus Commons (6 min walk)
- Bicentennial Park (11 min walk)
- North Bank Park (15 min walk)
- Topiary Park (20 min walk)
The Time Is Now
Since 1891, the Michael E. Moritz College of Law has cultivated a collegial community integral to The Ohio State University, one of the world’s great educational institutions. Our move to 17 South High Street will only serve to strengthen the college’s fabric as we remain grounded in who we are, while also focusing on where we are going in the future.
For our faculty, staff and, most importantly, our students, the time is now. Moritz’s new home will provide an experience that is professional, connected and extraordinary — and it will be the place where every direction leads to opportunity.
To learn more about this transformative project, including how you can get involved, please contact Samara Preisler, executive director of development, at (614) 216-9797 or preisler.7@osu.edu.