Does Indiana need another law school?

Despite all the news about law school grads struggling to find jobs, the massive amounts of debts students amass, and layoffs hitting firms and government offices, a lot of people still want to be lawyers. More than 3,400 people applied to be a part of the 2010 entering JD class at Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, but only 251 enrolled. At University of Notre Dame Law School, a little more than 4,000 applied and just 172 of those people made up the 2010 entering class.

With such a small percentage of people being accepted to Indiana’s four law schools, it makes financial sense for an institution to capitalize on people’s desire to go to law school. A few years ago, there was talk of two possible law schools opening up – one in Fort Wayne and one in Indianapolis – but nothing has materialized. Now, Indiana Tech, a private school based in Fort Wayne with satellite campuses throughout the state, is going to study the possibility of adding a law school to the Fort Wayne campus. The study committee is scheduled to report to the Board of Trustees on May 13.

It’s all speculation at this point as to what this potential law school will be like. Will it cater to those already working who want to switch careers? How many students will it take? When would it become accredited? How much will it cost?

Those who go to the law school, especially when it first opens, would be taking a big risk because it’s a brand new school without a reputation. It would be an even bigger risk if it takes a while for it to become accredited.

There’s been talk that the pool of available lawyers is already pretty deep and creating more law schools and having more graduates only leads to more students who can’t find jobs and are left with a lot of debt. There are only going to be so many legal-related jobs right now, and unless the economy quickly recovers and flourishes, it’s going to be like that for the foreseeable future.