In Does Delaware Need Another Law School? Answer: No!, Francis G.X. Pileggi argues that the University of Delaware (UD) ought not open a law school. According to a Letter from the President, In December 2010, the UD Board of Trustees authorized a “feasibility study and business plan” for a law school at its Newark campus. Why does UD need a law school? Well, not because Delaware has no public law school. Rather, UD’s strategic plan calls for one. As the UD president put it in his letter:
No matter what group of universities UD uses for comparison purposes, we stand out as one of the few without a professional degree program in law or medicine.
* * *
To achieve parity with the nation’s leading higher education institutions, one of the most impactful investments we can make is in the founding of a law school. * * * [T]he establishment of a law school has the potential to support UD’s growing prominence and move us into the next rank of American higher education.
Perhaps the feasibility study will conclude that we do not need more law schools (see Do We Need More Law Schools?), in part because the number of applicants to ABA-approved law schools peaked in 2004 (see Flat Demand and More Law Schools).
One might hope that a public law school would be cheaper and allow students a path to a JD with lower debt loads (see Law School Debt Loads). But, given the state of the economy and public attitudes towards higher taxes, state funding of higher education keeps getting cut. As a result, public universities are increasingly being privatized–forced to rely primarily on (increasing) tuition.
For other perspectives, see Professors Steve Bainbridge and Larry Ribstein.
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 10th, 2011 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Commentary, Law Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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New Law School for Delaware?
In Does Delaware Need Another Law School? Answer: No!, Francis G.X. Pileggi argues that the University of Delaware (UD) ought not open a law school. According to a Letter from the President, In December 2010, the UD Board of Trustees authorized a “feasibility study and business plan” for a law school at its Newark campus. Why does UD need a law school? Well, not because Delaware has no public law school. Rather, UD’s strategic plan calls for one. As the UD president put it in his letter:
Perhaps the feasibility study will conclude that we do not need more law schools (see Do We Need More Law Schools?), in part because the number of applicants to ABA-approved law schools peaked in 2004 (see Flat Demand and More Law Schools).
One might hope that a public law school would be cheaper and allow students a path to a JD with lower debt loads (see Law School Debt Loads). But, given the state of the economy and public attitudes towards higher taxes, state funding of higher education keeps getting cut. As a result, public universities are increasingly being privatized–forced to rely primarily on (increasing) tuition.
For other perspectives, see Professors Steve Bainbridge and Larry Ribstein.
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 10th, 2011 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Commentary, Law Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.