Add One More To The List Of Fans For A UNT Law School
The University of North Texas in on board, the City of Dallas is on board, so are all those freshly rejected law school applicants. And now you can add one more to the list of supporters for another public law school in Texas…Jake Hatlin. Too bad my endorsement is worth less than a cup of coffee in this town.
I may not be able to seal the deal for a UNT law school, but this site does have a few readers so what I can do is subject you to the why, and tell you about what is in the works and of the last piece of the puzzle that needs to fall in place.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the metroplex is ready to go. The UNT folks have been talking it up, and the city of Dallas is ready to put up as much as 16 million dollars to renovate a home and make a general investment in what will hopefully be the University of North Texas School of Law. The only thing that needs to happen from here is that the Lege has to sign off on the idea.
Our esteemed lawmakers tried in 2007, and with the clock running out, Rep. Dan Branch attached the idea to another bill, which unfortunately fell victim to a technicality and ultimately did not make it across the finish line. But that is why we have session every two years, so that we can pick up where momentum left off. I have not personally heard of any specific bills to be filed (like anyone would tell me anything), but I would be surprised if the Dallas County Delegation didn’t find a way to get this put on the top of their priority list.
Now comes the sales pitch. Texas desperately needs another law school, and the DFW metroplex desperately needs to be the host. Consider that the last time Texas opened a public law school, Speaker Tom Craddick wasn’t even a member of the House. Dare I say, we’re a little behind? I dare.
It is also worth mentioning that nine out of ten law school graduates from Texas stay in the Lone Star State, yet they still come in well under our total number of bar admittances. What this means is that under our current law school enrollment capacity, Texas is not meeting our own professional lawyer needs. That could change for the better with another public law school.
There is a cost factor as well. It doesn’t take a fool to notice that public law school is noticeably less expensive than private law school tuition. Yet in Texas private law schools actually outnumber their public counterparts. Affordable education…I’m a big fan.
And in this blogger’s opinion, DFW would be the perfect fit. They are the largest metroplex in the nation to not have a public law school. They have considerably less total law school seats than their Houston counterpart. Per capita, DFW is lagging in the number of practicing attorneys, and what law student wouldn’t be better served in life from pub crawling up and down Lower Greenville?
My guess is that SMU Law and Texas Wesleyan are going to be a little skirmish about the idea of another law school going up in their back yard. But both should rest assured in that there are plenty of qualified students wanting to go to law school in Texas to go around for everyone. Besides, if another DFW law school really was against SMU Law’s best interests, then I doubt a proud Pony would be one of the lawmakers pushing for it.
So Jake’s on board. When the Lege gavels in and (hopefully) a UNT Law School bill is filed, show me where to sign up to testify in favor.
Am I solidly behind the idea because it is sound public policy? Yes, but don’t discount the possibility that there are some selfish motives at work here. I just might have been one of the poor saps left holding nothing but a thick stack of law school rejection letters in my hand, wishing we had more seats to put butts in.
2 Responses to “Add One More To The List Of Fans For A UNT Law School”
By KJ on Jul 25, 2008
Are you serious? Texas needs more B-grade law school grads about as much as it needs more useless laws and more frivolous lawsuits.
By bluto on Nov 2, 2008
The University of North Texas can provide a much greater service to the community if it limited any new degree programs to fields with a present demand for graduates.
Why should the taxpayers of Texas subsidize another state law school when Texas already has too many law schools producing far too many attorneys?
Texas has four fourth-tier law schools, which have some of the lowest entry requirements in the nation; if you can’t get into one, perhaps you should reconsider your career options.
The very last thing Texas needs is another law school, especially one that costs the taxpayers millions of dollars each and every year it exists!