LDS Church Gives $4M To University Law School

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is donating $4 million toward a $61 million University of Utah law school building project.

Officials from the S.J. Quinney College of Law announced Friday they received the gift. Groundbreaking on the 155,000-square-foot building is expected to start in the summer of 2013, and the project should be finished in time for the 2014-15 school year.

Dean Hiram Chodosh says the school aims to build one of the most innovative law buildings in the country. It will be about 50 percent larger than the current facility, which was constructed almost 50 years ago.

Plans call for a 450-seat conference center so the school can host mid-sized events and lectures.

Chodosh says the LDS Church and the law school share similar educational goals.