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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAs classes begin for the 2019-2020 academic year, all Indiana law schools are marking historical milestones.
Notre Dame Law School is welcoming its new dean, G. Marcus Cole, who became the school’s 11th leader July 1, 2019 when Nell Jessup Newton stepped down after 10 years.
Also, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law is starting a bittersweet year, celebrating its 125th anniversary and preparing to say goodbye to dean Andrew Klein. At the helm since 2013, Klein led the Indianapolis school through a time of great upheaval in legal education and is helping the institution reach its $14 million fundraising goal. He plans to return to the classroom after he leaves the dean’s office at the end of this academic year.
In Bloomington, Indiana University Maurer School of Law is setting a record. The entering class is 56.5 percent female, the largest percentage of women in a 1L group in the institution’s history.
The IL classes of 2019 closely match the credentials of the entering law students in 2018. A preliminary profile of each the incoming classes is as follows:
IU Maurer
- Number of 1L students: 170
- Median LSAT: 162
- Median GPA: 3.8
- Percentage who are female: 56.5
- Percentage who are minorities: 16.5
IU McKinney
- Number of 1L students: 265 (204 fulltime, 61 part time)
- Median LSAT: 154
- Median GPA: 3.46
- Percentage who are female: 46
- Percentage who are minorities: 16
Notre Dame
- Number of 1L students: 215
- Median LSAT: 165
- Median GPA: 3.73
- Percentage who are female: 51
- Percentage who are minorities: 27
For Valparaiso Law School, this school year will be the final chapter in its story that began in 1879. The institution was battered by the Great Recession and, despite an unsuccessful effort to move to Middle Tennessee State University, will be closing after the last class graduates in May 2020.
Since no new students have been accepted since the fall of 2017, only the 3L class of 17 students remains. The class is 58.8 percent female, and 17.6 percent identify as minority students. Seven full-time faculty members, including dean David Cleveland, are left and will teach this final year along with about nine adjunct faculty.
The law school has moved from Wesemann Hall, which was built especially for legal education and dedicated in 1987. Students, faculty and the classes have relocated to the nearby Heritage Hall, which was erected in 1875 and extensively renovated then rededicated in 2011. In addition, the legal research materials to the university’s main library, the Christopher Center Library.
Also, the law school’s portfolio of clinics has been whittled down to just the criminal law clinic. That clinic is only accepting cases referred by the courts.
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