How Many Law Schools Do We Need?
Posted on: Tuesday, 27 May 2008, 21:00 CDT
By Jay Rey
How many law schools does it take to produce enough lawyers?
Fill in your own punch line.
But it's not a joke.
It's a question more than a few are asking since the state set aside $50 million to help plan for three new law schools in Rochester, Binghamton and Long Island.
There already are 13 private and two public law schools in New York -- one being the University at Buffalo Law School.
There also are more lawyers living and working in New York than in any other state in the country -- seven attorneys for every 1,000 residents.
And there were more than 150,000 students in law schools across the United States this past year -- including 43,500 recently graduated, according to the American Bar Association.
"The need simply does not exist for more law schools, or more lawyers than we currently produce," said Makau W. Mutua, the new dean of the UB Law School. "We have more attorneys passing the bar than the state can absorb."
Mutua has voiced his opposition to the state providing funds to establish law schools at St. John Fisher College, a private school in suburban Rochester, as well as at Binghamton and Stony Brook universities within the State University of New York system.
The state, he said, has trouble adequately supporting the law school it already has at UB.
"There is no room, or reason, to create struggling law schools, which will produce mediocre attorneys," Mutua said.
There are 198 law schools around the country approved by the American Bar Association, nearly two dozen more accredited schools than 20 years ago, statistics show.
Law school enrollment, meanwhile, is up some 27,000 students from two decades ago, reaching an all-time high of 150,000 this past academic year, according to the bar association.
In all, there are more than 1.1 million attorneys currently active across the United States, the largest number in New York, where more than 147,000 live and work.
California is second with more than 145,300.
Still, for institutions like St. John Fisher, adding a law school is a chance build its reputation.
"This is another opportunity to grow," said Anne Geer, director of marketing and communication at St. John Fisher. "It would round out, and complement, our offerings in the doctoral programs."
The college administration believes there's a market for a law school in the Rochester area.
A feasibility study showed a law school in Rochester could be attractive for local residents, given the closest law schools are in Buffalo, Syracuse and Ithaca, Geer said.
State Sen. Joseph Robach, a Republican from suburban Greece, helped the college secure $2.25 million in state money to explore the idea of a law school in downtown Rochester, hoping it might also provide some economic benefits to the city.
It's at least three or four years down the road.
"We're still in the exploratory stages," Geer said. "The key here is we'd need to get funding, and we'd really look for private sources of funding."
>Bar groups skeptical
Mutua isn't the only one skeptical about adding three more law schools.
The Bar Association of Erie County has discussed taking a public stance.
"I don't know anything about this that's good for the people of New York, or law schools," said Cheryl Smith Fisher, a partner with Magavern Magavern Grimm, and outgoing president of the Bar Association of Erie County.
"We don't need more law schools," said Fisher, who graduated from UB Law School. "We may need better-trained lawyers, and brand new law schools aren't going to provide better-trained lawyers."
The Monroe County Bar Association also suggests proceeding cautiously.
"UB is hardly a distant outpost for students in this area," said Thomas G. Smith, a partner with Harter Secrest & Emery and president of the Monroe County Bar Association. "Creating just another law school that was not a well-regarded one, or not an upper-tier law school, would not necessarily benefit this community, and might well dilute the quality of the profession."
This discussion, Smith said, comes at a time when the U.S. Department of Education is putting more pressure on the American Bar Association to give more scrutiny to its accredited schools.
"The problem has been that those who graduate from schools not highly regarded often struggle to find meaningful work," said Smith, who earned his bachelor's at Canisius College, "and that's where the concern is."
Some 84,000 more job openings are projected for lawyers in a variety of settings by 2016, a rise of 11 percent, which is about the average growth rate for other occupations, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
But, the Labor Department said, the competition for jobs in the legal field will be tough because of the large numbers coming out of law school.
"The legal profession does seem to be one that's growing right now," said Burton Phillips, who graduated last week from UB Law School, where he served as president of the Student Bar Association, "but I don't think creating more law schools is the answer."
>A sensitive topic
It's a particularly sensitive topic in Western New York, where there's a fear additional law schools -- especially more public law schools -- will take away potential students and resources from UB.
The Student Bar Association, in fact, expressed its displeasure with a formal resolution that argues that the $50 million in state money would be better spent improving the UB Law School, which has its own challenges.
There has been a lot of uncertainty during the search for its new dean and some angst over the recent release of the controversial but widely read rankings of best U.S. law schools.
The latest rankings by U.S. News & World Report had UB Law School tied for No. 100 in the country, down from No. 77 last year.
While Mutua -- who has been a Law School faculty member since 1996 -- believes the methodology of the rankings is flawed, the perception they create can't be ignored.
And he acknowledges that UB Law School has not kept up with other law schools.
"In the last 20 years, we could have done much better if we had received adequate support and funding from the state," Mutua said.
As dean, Mutua wants to market the Law School more widely, bring aboard more top-notch faculty, and build alumni contributions -- all with the goal of boosting the school's reputation.
But St. John Fisher, Stony Brook and Binghamton have aspirations, too.
The law school proposed for Stony Brook would receive the bulk of the state funds, which includes $45 million in capital for a new building.
Meanwhile, the proposal for a law school at Binghamton -- which would get $3 million -- is part of the university's plan to not only grow, but increase the breadth and depth of its academics, President Lois B. DeFleur said earlier this year.
"Over the last decade," she said on the school's Web site, "we have enhanced several important academic fields and degrees that provide a firm foundation on which to build a first-class law school."
e-mail: jrey@buffnews.com
Originally published by NEWS STAFF REPORTER.
(c) 2008 Buffalo News. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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