Husson University in Bangor, Maine has dropped plans to offer law degrees. This is a follow-up to an article we blogged about this past September. A March 4th Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling that Husson’s graduates would not be allowed to take the state’s bar exam influenced this decision. The University asked the court to devise its own review system for evaluating Husson University, as an alternative to the American Bar Association standards. The court said it could not create an alternative review process and without the law school in full operation and a review in progress, the court said it could not allow Husson students to take the bar exam. The University of Maine School of Law in Portland remains as the only law school in Maine, which leaves no law school in the northern or eastern part of the state. The original article from The Portland Press Herald can be accessed here.
Belmont University, located in Nashville, TN announced this morning that it will open a new law school, the first new law school in middle Tennessee in the last 100 years. Factors weighing the decision to move forward with a new law school included this gem:
A recent feasibility study indicated increasing need over the next decade for attorneys in Tennessee as well as in the region. Tennessee currently has fewer lawyers per capita (8.2 per 10,000) than nearly all of the states in which new American Bar Association (ABA)-approved law schools have opened in the past 10 years. In addition, there are hundreds of individuals interested in attending an ABA-approved law school in Tennessee who are currently unable to do so—in 2008, nearly 6,800 individuals applied for entrance to Tennessee’s three ABA-approved law schools, but only 1,773 were issued offers of admission.
What a couple of fascinating statistics! Congratulations on the announcement.
Fore a more detailed account of the announcement, visit Belmont University’s web site.
What are your thoughts? Does the country need another new law school? Does the country? Chime in with your comments below!
Husson University in Bangor, Maine has dropped plans to offer law degrees. This is a follow-up to an article we blogged about this past September. A March 4th Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling that Husson’s graduates would not be allowed to take the state’s bar exam influenced this decision. The University asked the court to devise its own review system for evaluating Husson University, as an alternative to the American Bar Association standards. The court said it could not create an alternative review process and without the law school in full operation and a review in progress, the court said it could not allow Husson students to take the bar exam. The University of Maine School of Law in Portland remains as the only law school in Maine, which leaves no law school in the northern or eastern part of the state. The original article from The Portland Press Herald can be accessed here.
