Academic

Start-Up Possibilities

By firstamendmentblogger

Inside Higher Ed reports this morning that NY  lawmakers have set aside funds to develop as many as three new law school in the state, one at a private institution and two as part of the SUNY system.  That would make 18 law schools in NY, adding to:  Albany,  Brooklyn, CUNY, Columbia, Cornell, Fordham, Hofstra, NYU, Pace, St. John's, SUNY Buffalo, Syracuse, Touro, Yeshiva, and New York Law School.

Market concerns tend to drive the debate over law school start-ups - do they really need 18 law schools in NY?  Competition for state and federal funding would mean less revenue allocated to established schools, right?  Will the reputation of established schools be enough to retain top tier students despite tuition discounts start-ups tend to offer?  I don't have the answer to any of these questions, but I'd welcome a broader discussion on the possibilities start-ups might hold for modernizing the process of legal education. 

I'd especially like to know whether its possible for start-ups to hold admissions numbers to a manageable size without pricing themselves out of the market.  I teach a substantive first year course every semester (Con Law - which I love), but I've yet to figure out how to divide 90 students in an 80 minute class into groups of 4 for any kind of meaningful group exercise.  The pedagogical literature tells me that the Socratic method is tired and outdated, and to the extent that was probably true even when we were law students, its especially true for the millennial generation we'll be teaching over the next decades.  For more on that see Millennial Law Prof.  Westlaw, Google and CALI help bridge the gap by bringing technology into the classroom,  but engaged inter-active problem solving - a critical part of lawyering - is hard to mimic in an over-crowded classroom.  New law schools appear to be taking the lead in providing valuable practice opportunities outside of the classroom - clinics, externship requirements, and the like.  But I don't know whether there's a corresponding focus on practice-oriented learning in the classroom - or whether start-ups are even in a position to make that part of their mission. 

Perhaps Dan can shed some light on this  . . .

On that note, the Inside Higher Ed article also notes that Drexel University?s law school received provisional accreditation in the shortest period of time allowed by the ABA - 18 months.  Bravo!

-Kathleen A. Bergin

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on April 24, 2008 (boomark / email).