Law School Proliferation
Southern New England School of Law, a small unacredited regional school nestled near the southeastern shore of Massachusetts, is gearing up for the fight of its life. Last month, the school offered to donate itself to the University of Massachusetts (UMass) at Dartmouth, an offer valued at approximately $22.6 million. The donation follows the school’s failed attempt to sell itself to UMass in 2005, a move that was quashed by the state board of higher education. The most recent offer has been met with both excited anticipation and much skepticism ahead of the November 18th UMass trustee meeting about the proposal.
Proponents of the deal are quick to point out that Massachusetts is one of only six states that do not have a public law school, which forces some Massachusetts residents to seek a (reduced-tuition) public legal education elsewhere, like UConn.
Critics of the proposed merger cite the poor economy, Massachusetts’ eight other private law schools, the old “we already have too many lawyers” argument, and the potential of taxpayer money being used to subsidize the schools absorption (and plan for a renewed ABA-acreditation process) into the UMass system.
So, what do you think, LGers? Should law school expansion be encouraged? Or do we have too many as it is? Do bad law schools deserve a fair shake? Weigh in below.
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UMass buying SNESL isn’t going to create yet another law school, just provide one that ‘might’ become ABA certified. As it stands right now, this deal is just going to provide the attachment of the UMass name and technically make it ‘public’, but the tuition cost is already expected to rise.
I currently attend another of Massachusetts non-ABA schools and can say that I pay half of what SNESL charges, so making it a ‘public’ school isn’t going to provide a more affordable solution that isn’t already there.
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I feel super prepared to comment on this as: (1) I’m a UMass alum; and (2) I’m a law student at a private law school recently purchased by a giant state school.
I’ve been hearing the arguments about how UMass is already in financial trouble, which is worrisome. Still, Penn State Dickinson is a good example of how a public school can breathe life into a dying institution.
As Adam said, this won’t actually create a new law school in Massachusetts, thankfully. I think most of us can agree that MA is already pretty over-saturated with law schools.
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@Adam: I have to say there may be some value in keeping SNESL around, accredited or not. It does provide a location for the study of law on the south shore to students that might not otherwise have the ability to commute to another school in the state.
@Josh: What do you think were the major improvements at PSD after the acquisition? (in 140 characters or less ;)
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Joshua Auriemma Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Well, it’s a fact that when PSU bought Dickinson, they were a tier 4 school. Now we’re jumping up in the rankings every year and many people smarter than me about such things think our place is in tier 1. Why? Because PSU has the national recognition that can attract smart professors and smart students.
Penn State also has a lot of money to invest in the school, which doesn’t hurt. We just opened a beautiful new state-of-the-art building last semester (thanks Lewis Katz!), and another (the original renovated building) is opening in the next few months.
Sadly, private law schools are a dying breed. Take a look at the top law schools and I can’t think of any private ones off the top of my head. I actually had a nice chat with your dean about the US News model and why it’s clearly a sham, but sadly it’s what good students use to gauge law schools, so it’s what we’re stuck with.
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