Wilkes University’s Board of Trustees approved the proposal for a new law school on Friday, June 5, contingent on the university being able to raise the necessary funds without taxing the university’s other schools, programs or priorities. The board’s action clears the way for the administration to develop a business plan to secure the necessary financial resources, identify a suitable building for the new school and seek final board approval.

 

Tim Gilmour, Wilkes president, said he hopes to seat the inaugural class of 60 full-time students and 25 part-time students in 2011. “Creating a law school for Northeastern Pennsylvania is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will have a significant impact on Wilkes University and the surrounding communities by increasing graduate level educational opportunities, creating jobs, and speeding the region’s economic recovery.

 

The new law school curriculum will incorporate Wilkes’ emphasis on building close relationships between students and mentors. It will also stimulate the region’s economy by creating new jobs and bringing hundreds of students to downtown Wilkes-Barre and will supply talented lawyers to lead the region’s law firms, businesses and government entities.

 

 “This is another important step to revitalize the region, make Wilkes-Barre a major college town, and make the region’s economy more competitive and diverse,” said Gilmour. “We fully believe this will be another significant step toward making Wilkes University a premier university in the Mid-Atlantic region.”

 

The next step is for the university to identify the financial resources necessary to operate the school and acquire a building. The project will also be subject to periodic reviews by the Board of Trustees to ensure the implementation is on track.

 

Once fully operational, the school will enroll 275 to 300 full-time students and 80 to 100 part-time students. An economic impact study completed by the Institute for Public Policy & Economic Development (formerly the Joint Urban Studies Center) estimates the new school will generate as much as $18 million annually to the regional economy and will produce annual tax revenues of $500,000. The school will also serve the community in a variety of ways: Legal services will be provided to the needy through free clinics, the region’s legal profession will benefit from the presence of a law school, and area lawyers will have convenient access to mandated continuing education programs.

 

The board’s vote sends a clear signal that the plan, developed by Dean Loren Prescott, can provide the region with one of today’s most sought-after degrees -- a juris doctorate. A law school will enhance the university’s reputation in the northeastern United States, increase enrollments in undergraduate programs and help continue the region’s economic recovery. Prescott’s plan outlines a curriculum that can be completed by full-time students in three years and by part-time students in four years. Significant efforts will be made to admit qualified students from Northeastern Pennsylvania’s colleges and universities.

 

The proposal describes a law school that is based on the recommendations found in a recent study of legal education published by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The curriculum will blend theory and practice skills throughout the course of study in a way that will ensure that graduates are truly practice-ready when they graduate. It will also place greater emphasis on legal ethics, knowledge of the legal profession, and the importance of professionalism. By pursuing these important objectives, the school will be among the leaders in the legal education reform movement.

 

 “I am confident the law school we create will attract the region’s best and brightest students who will graduate ready to practice law and then settle in the region to help their communities grow stronger,” said Prescott.

 

A 2009 market study showed that every year hundreds of students leave Northeast Pennsylvania to pursue law degrees outside the region. There is also demand from working adults who want to improve their employability by adding a law degree to their credentials but have been unable do so for lack of a part-time program in the region. With the law degree, Wilkes will now offer a comprehensive set of graduate degrees.

 

The Wilkes Law School Planning Initiative began in 2004. The idea was developed initially by a Trustee committee that, with the assistance of legal education and demographic consultants, developed a preliminary feasibility study report completed in 2006.

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