Article by: Ethan Long

Plans to create the first public law school in Mass. are underway, to the chagrin of many private law schools that fought against its formation.

According to the new plan, approved by the Mass. Board of Higher Education last Tuesday, Feb. 2, the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth will acquire the Southern New England School of Law, currently a private institution, and form it into the state’s first public law school.

In 2004, Suffolk Law was joined by the New England School of Law and Western New England College of Law to fight the initial proposal. The three private law schools succeeded in halting UMASS’ plans in 2005, but last year a revised plan sprouted up, which restarted the process.

It will aim to make legal education, which usually comes at a hefty price, cheaper. In-state students will be able to pay reduced prices, while out of state students will still be able to pay prices significantly lower than other institutions, including Suffolk. However, the private schools have continued to bash the program, stating that the school will cost taxpayers millions of dollars, especially since the school hopes to increase its student body by over a hundred percent by 2017.

“At some point you’re going to see [taxpayers] say okay that’s enough,” said Tristan Colangelo, a second year student at Suffolk Law.

Another point brought up is that the school may produce more lawyers than needed, and that the job market might suffer.

“There was initial concern that it was going to take away a lot of potential jobs in the future, obviously because that many more people will be going into the field in the area,” said Sam Ratner, a Suffolk Law student. The job market for any profession has seen some tough days in recent years, but the amount of people aspiring to be in the legal field exceeds the amount of needed jobs.

“You’re talking about a state right now that’s so saturated with lawyers that there are not enough jobs out there for the kids graduated,” said Colangelo.

“Right now we’re worried anyways, regardless of how many people,” said Cristina Galica, another law student.

The school still needs to be accredited by the American Bar Association, something which the Southern New England School of Law failed to do twice.

“I think the education that you get at the Suffolk University Law School is going to be better than what you would get at UMass Dartmouth,” said Colangelo.

If, and when, the public law school becomes accredited, Suffolk Law may be greatly affected.

“It’s obviously going to take a lot of student interest from Suffolk,” said Galica

Not only would Suffolk have another competitor in the region, but the school would be a much, much, cheaper choice, which in this economy is a crucial point of interest when choosing a school to attend.

“Our acceptance rate is pretty low. We’re still turning people away. I think it’s really going to come down to what the direction the school wants to take, I mean the school might turn around and say ‘All right you know what, to make ourselves better in the national rank, we stop accepting as many.’,” said Colangelo.

“It’s not initial concern, but maybe ten years down the line or so,” said Ratner.

With the reality setting in that a public Law School is no longer a plan, but a future, Suffolk continues to warn that this may be a bad idea.

“By all accounts, the state is in the midst of a budget crisis. If this public law school will truly not cost the Commonwealth any of its scarce taxpayer dollars, then it could be a good idea. If it costs taxpayers the tens of millions of dollars that experts suggest, it is simply the wrong time,” said university spokesman Greg Gatlin.

When the school opens, Massachusetts will become the 45th state with a public law school. Delaware, Vermont, Alaska, and Rhode Island are now the only states without a public law school, with New Hampshire in the midst of planning for its first.