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Law Schools Help Students Affected By Hurricane

Posted on: Friday, 9 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

Of the 185 American Bar Association accredited law schools, 183 are accommodating Hurricane Katrina victims. The two law schools absent from this list are the New Orleans schools who have victims - - Loyola University New Orleans Law School and Tulane University Law School.

Local law schools are reaching out to New Orleans academic institutions that have been impacted by the hurricane.

UB Law School

The University At Buffalo Law School will accept law students from Tulane and Loyola New Orleans for the fall semester.

Normally, visiting students must reside in New York in order to be exempt from an additional tuition obligation. This requirement has been waived.

According to Cheryl Tubinis, executive assistant to Dean R. Nils Olsen, UB Law has already accepted two first year law students -- one was enrolled at Loyola, the other at Tulane. Both students have family in the Buffalo area. These students are considered visiting students and will not receive matriculation from the law school.

According to Tubinis, three more students are considering UB but are currently shopping around for the best offer. These three students have family, although not immediate family, in the Buffalo area.

UB waived the semester's tuition as the visiting students have already paid tuition to their home universities. UB also offered free books and school supplies to these students.

As a state-run university, and the only law school in the SUNY system, UB Law may ask Albany for financial compensation later. If the students choose to stay at UB for the spring semester, they may be required to pay tuition.

Syracuse Law School

Syracuse University College of Law (SU Law) will take students from Tulane or Loyola as transient visiting students for the fall semester.

Assuming the students have paid tuition to their home school, SU Law will not collect tuition or fees.

According to Keith E. Sealing, associate dean for student services, SU Law currently enrolled four students who were previously attending the two New Orleans schools. Sealing anticipates the number will increase to upwards of six to 10 students. Each of these students have family ties to the Syracuse area.

In addition to free tuition, SU Law also has a hotline which offers free temporary or permanent housing to visiting students. Additionally, legal publishers donated books, many SU law alumni made donations and the student senate is fund raising.

One Student's Story

Even with the generosity from other law schools, some first year students have decided against a semester move.

Daniel Nicolas, a first year law student at Tulane, attended a week of classes before Hurricane Katrina hit. He fled New Orleans with only three days worth of clothing, his law books and his golf clubs. He was planning to study at home and return to Tulane after the storm. He is not returning.

Most schools offer visiting student status which provides pass/ fail transfer credits to Tulane students; Tulane hopes that it will be ready for these students to return in January 2006.

To Nicolas, the visiting credits will negatively affect class rank, summer employment opportunities and a future legal career. Given these options, he decided to withdraw from Tulane and re- apply to other schools in the fall.

Nicolas said that although other law schools have been helpful to students in his situation, he is most likely not returning to Tulane. Nicolas sees several uncertainties in the future of Tulane: many law students may not return after the visiting semester; faculty and staff may not return; and the City of New Orleans and Tulane may not be ready to start classes in January.

Additional Resources

Many details remain to be worked out. For more information on what law schools are doing to help, visit the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) website at www.aals.org. For information concerning Tulane University visit www.tulane.edu. Loyola New Orlean's website is www.loyno.edu.

Source: Daily Record (Rochester, NY)

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