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Friday, January 05, 2007

Ind. Law - More on: "University of Saint Francis has begun exploring the possibility of opening a law school"

Supplementing yesterday's story from the News-Sentinel, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has a story today by Krista J. Stockman headed "Saint Francis studies law school: Program could start in 2010 if committee finds plan feasible." Some quotes:

Opening a law school in Fort Wayne would certainly be convenient for those living in the area, said Maclyn Parker, a partner with Baker & Daniels and a member of the committee. The only law schools in Indiana are at the University of Notre Dame, Valparaiso University, Indiana University and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

“The nearest law school (now) would be Notre Dame or Valparaiso,” he said. “I don’t believe Indiana compared to other states has nearly the number of schools as other states do.”

Ohio and Illinois each have nine law schools while Michigan has six.

There is not a shortage of lawyers in the area, Parker said, but having a law school in Fort Wayne could keep more graduates in northeast Indiana.

Mitch Harper of Fort Wayne Observed also had a post on the proposed new school yesterday - access it here.

A couple of intereesting, and perhaps somewhat related, facts:

(1.) The most recent (Dec. 2006) issue of Res Gestae has several interesting articles by Bill Brooks on the Annual Meeting of the ISBA. The writeup of "Res Gestae and the Practice of Law: 50 Amazing Years" makes me wish there was a podcast of the session available. It begins:

Fifty years ago, students paid $300 a year in tuition and fees to attend Indiana University School of Law. That number rose to $840 a year by 1976 -- but has skyrocketed to $12,480 a year today.
(For what it's worth, my tuition and fees were less than $500 per year , but it seemed like a lot at the time.)

(2.) Each year U.S. News puts out a list of "the top 100 law schools", as determined by U.S. News. Tiers 1 and 2 are ranked, leading to much anxiety every year. (See, for example, this ILB entry.) In this most recent list, IU Bloomington is #37, IU-Indianapolis is #77. Notre Dame is #22.

Law schools from 101 to approximately 200 are also listed: Tier 3 and Tier 4 are not ordered by rank, but alphabetically within the tier. Valparaiso is in Tier 4. You will recognize the names of many of the Tiers 3 and 4 schools.

(3.) How many law schools are there in the U.S? According to this ABA site: "As of December 2006, a total of 195 institutions are approved by the American Bar Association."

The ABA site also shows the number of law schools by region. In the Great Lakes Region: Wisconsin has 2, Minnesota has 4 (note that many pinheads identify more than one school), Indiana has 4, Michigan has 6, Illinois has 9, and Ohio has 9.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 5, 2007 09:50 AM
Posted to Indiana Law