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States With Limited Law School Possibilities

By chucknewton

The declining applications to law school coupled with the increase in both the number of seats being created at existing law schools and the establishment of new law schools might make it easier to get accepted to a law school.  But, there will always be a disparity in some states that have no or limited law school positions (especially public law school positions).  This forces candidates to look outside the state to either private law schools that charge more or to public law schools at which they must pay out-of-state tuition.  Not to mention the cost of relocating.

Over the last 20 something years Florida, for example, has greatly increased the number of law schools in its state, but when I was a law student at South Texas College of Law there was such a dearth of law schools in Florida compared to its growth that nearly a third of my entering class in Texas was from Florida.  Even with the growth of law schools in Florida, the state has still only created one new public law school since, and that is Florida A&M University School of Law.

Texas has had a growing number of law schools and seats, but in the past North Texas has had so few seats that many students were driven into Oklahoma to attend law school because it was at least close to where they lived.  This situation has been remedied to some extent in recent years by the creation of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, a private law school in Fort Worth, Texas, and now with the coming of University of North Texas School of Law, a public law school to be created in Dallas, Texas.

Like it or not, one private investment group has noticed this disparity and is creating community law schools to help close this gap.  The Infilaw System acquired and expanded the private, for-profit Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida.  Since then it has created two new law schools in under served areas.  The first is Phoenix School of Law in Phoenix, Arizona (not associated with Phoenix University), which is now ABA approved.  The second is Charlotte School of Law located in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is seeking ABA approval.

These are a few examples, but there are still states that have limited law school position (and especially public law school positions).  These are:

Alaska

Has no law school.  Anybody from Alaska will have to leave the state to go to law school.

Delaware

Widener University School of Law, Wilmington
4601 Concord Pike, Wilmington 19803-0474, Phone: 302-477-2100

No public law school in the state.

Hawaii

William S. Richardson School of Law University of Hawaii, Honolulu
2515 Dole Street, Honolulu 96822-2328, Phone: (808) 956-7966

Although a public law school it has a limited number of seats available, leaving most of the state's residence to pursue law on the mainland.

Idaho

University of Idaho College of Law, Moscow
709 Deakin Ave, Moscow 83844, Phone: (208) 885-6111

Maine

University of Maine School of Law, Portland
246 Deering Ave., Portland 04102, Phone: (207) 780.4355

Montana

University of Montana School of Law, Missoula
Maurice and Eddy, Missoula 59812-6552, Phone:  (406) 243-4311

Nevada

University of Nevada - William S. Boyd School of Law, Las Vegas
4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas 89154-1080, Phone: (702) 895-2400

New Hampshire

Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord
Two White Street, Concord, Concord 03301, Phone: (603) 228-1541

New Mexico

University of New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque
1117 Stanford NE, Albuquerque 6070, Phone: (505) 277-2146

North Dakota

University of North Dakota Law School, Grand Forks
215 Centennial Drive Stop 9003, Grand Forks 58202-9003, Phone: (701) 777-2104

Rhode Island

Roger Williams School of Law, Bristol
Ten Metacom Avenue, Bristol 02809, Phone: (401) 254-4500

South Dakota

University of South Dakota School of Law, Vermillion
414 E. Clark St., Vermillion 57069, Phone: (605) 677-5443

Vermont

Vermont Law School, South Royalton
Chelsea Street, South Royalton 05068, Phone: (800) 227 1395

West Virginia

West Virginia University Law School, Morgantown
(As aggravating as it is, possibly due to poor planning, the law school does not have a central phone number or physical address on its website).

Wyoming

University of Wyoming College of Law, Laramie
1000 E. University Ave., Laramie 82071, Phone: (307) 766-6416

Full post as published by Chuck Newton on February 03, 2008 (boomark / email).