NY OK’s Funding for New Law Schools; Buffalo Dean Scratches Head

[WSJ_law_blog]

Last month, when the Law Blog covered the law school rankings flap between the folks at U.S. News and the dean of Buffalo law school, which dropped 23 spots in the 2009 rankings, Buffalo’s dean, Makau Mutua (pictured), told us that, as New York’s only state law school, he thought it would be prudent for the government to provide the school with more financial support, particularly in light of the rankings fall-off.

New York’s legislature — to our great disappointment — must not read the Law Blog. Instead of funneling money to Dean Mutua, New York has reportedly approved funds to study proposals for three new law schools in New York State. Here’s the story from the NYLJ.

According to the piece, the NY legislature included in the budget, which was passed in early April — around the same time the 2009 U.S. News ranking came out — money for two feasibility studies: $3 million for the State University at Binghamton and $2.25 million for St. John Fisher College, a Catholic school near Rochester. Additionally, it provided $250,000 for “planning” of a law school at SUNY Stony Brook - to cover expenses such as approvals by the New York State Department of Education and the Board of Regents and accreditation by the ABA. Finally, the legislature earmarked $45 million for a Stony Brook law school building should one be required.

Proponents of the plan argue that more law school would expand applicants’ options and boost economic development, while critics, like Dean Mutua wonder what the heck is going on.

“This came out of left field, completely unanticipated and unexpected,” said Dean Mutua to the NYLJ. “You would think that when a plan of this magnitude is afoot, the relevant state officials would consult with those of us who have expertise.” He was particularly irked by the public funding for St. John Fisher, the private Catholic college. “It is very, very surprising that state dollars would be used to support establishment of a private law school at a private college. It’s simply bad public policy,” he told the NYLJ. “The only public law school in the SUNY system is Buffalo Law - and we’re underfunded.”

“It’s pretty silly,” added Dean Thomas F. Guernsey of Albany Law School. “The demand isn’t there nationally, and clearly it’s not in the state of New York.”

But Kenneth P. LaValle, a Republican from Port Jefferson, Long Island, and the chairman of the state Senate’s Higher Education Committee, disagreed with Mutua and Guernsey. LaValle, who secured the funding for Stony Brook, said law schools do more than just churn out lawyers. For example, nearly all of the schools have established legal clinics staffed by students and supervised by their professors that benefit low-income people.

LB Readers, take it away.