Stetson University School of Law boasts honors as Florida's first law school. Located 37 miles north of Sarasota in Gulfport, the law school is an accredited institution offering Juris Doctorate Certificates of Concentration in International Law, Higher Education Law, Elder Law and Advocacy. The school also offers an opportunity for select students who are bilingual in English and Spanish to earn dual degrees: a J.D. from Stetson and the Grado en Derecho from the Universidad de Granada in Granada, Spain. The Tampa Law Center, opened in 2004 and is approved to offer fifty percent of the coursework required for the part-time J.D. degree. This ancillary site of Stetson University School of Law is located about 58 miles northeast of Sarasota.
The University of South Florida is located in Tampa about 66 miles northeast of Downtown Sarasota, with a satellite campus in Sarasota/Bradenton. Through partnerships with other state institutions the University of South Florida's Tampa campus offers dual degree programs in Public Health and Law, and Medicine and Law.
The Duane O. Andreas School of Law at Barry University in Orlando is located about 115 miles northeast of Downtown Sarasota. The 14-acre campus continues to grow and transform into a state-of-the-art complex that is designed to serve as a focal point for Central Florida's legal community. The university offers full-time day and evening Juris Doctor programs and allows qualified students to participate in a summer in Spain program.
131 miles northeast of Downtown Sarasota is Florida A&M University's College of Law in Orlando. FAMU touts itself as the largest single historically black university campus in terms of enrollment, with the majority of its students at the primary campus in Tallahassee. The College of Law offers full-time day and part-time evening course studies and provides students with working experience through pro bono opportunities and a clinical program.