Law Schools

Law School Seems Too Eager To Change Its Name

Can you guess which one?

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Here in the “new normal,” it seems that law schools are willing to give anything a try if it will mean putting more students’ butts in seats, including, but not limited to, splitting their branch campuses into entirely separate schools. In fact, as long as the ABA is poised to approve the split, why not just give both schools a new name entirely?

That’s exactly what one law school is trying to do.

Can you guess which one?

In anticipation of its proposed campus split, Widener University School of Law has hired a marketing and public relations firm to ask the law school community — including students, faculty, and staff — what they think about a new name for the school. Here’s some additional information from Delaware Law Weekly:

An email sent out … from Lou Anne Bulik, assistant vice president for university relations, described the meetings as “listening sessions” for members of the Wilmington community to “voice their thoughts concerning a future name and see if common threads concerning a new name seem to rise to the surface.”

“The consultants will not be giving a presentation or presenting data; they will be here to listen to your thoughts and suggestions concerning a potential future name for Widener University School of Law in Delaware,” Bulik wrote in the email sent to Delaware-based students, faculty and staff.

We wonder what good could possibly come from these “listening sessions,” especially since the school will likely only listen to what its business partners tell it to do. Why so eager to change the school’s name? Surely the administration won’t want to waste all of the positive publicity gained by being one of the only schools unable to shake a class-action lawsuit about its allegedly deceptive employment statistics.

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Either way, we’re sure that somewhere, there’s a rich alumnus who’d like to help Widener Law’s cause:

Law school name changes are rare, but a few have occurred in recent years.

Phoenix School of Law, a private law school in downtown Phoenix, changed its name to Arizona Summit Law School in November 2013. In April 2008, the University of California, Berkeley, rebranded itself as Berkeley Law after operating as Boalt Hall School of Law since the early part of the last century.

Most recently, Drexel University renamed its law school the Thomas R. Kline School of Law after Philadelphia attorney Thomas R. Kline donated $50 million to the school. When asked if Widener was soliciting donors to make a large contribution to the law school in exchange for naming rights, Hanson declined to discuss specifics.

Widener, when you do find a new name, we’d suggest one that’s a little less punny.

Readers, please feel free to suggest some new names for Widener Law, in the comments or via email.

Widener Law Asks Marketing Firm to Assess Possible Name Change [Delaware Law Weekly]

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