This past fall, shortly after the ABA decided to remove a censure against the school for being out of compliance with admissions standards, Valparaiso University Law School announced that it would be suspending admissions of a Fall 2018 class, working to move current students to other schools, and exploring affiliating with another law school or relocating. As we mentioned earlier this week, Valpo is attempting not just to relocate, but to wipe its hands clean of its troubled law school altogether by “gifting” it to Middle Tennessee State University.
According to a spokeswoman for Valparaiso, the discussions are “preliminary,” while MTSU President Sidney McPhee noted that he was exploring the “gift” of Valpo Law to “create meaningful opportunities for our students, our region, and our state.”
Tennessee currently has six law schools — Vanderbilt, University of Tennessee, Nashville, Belmont, Memphis, and Lincoln Memorial — but does it need a seventh?
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If Middle Tennessee State were to accept this “gift,” its brand new law school would be about 30 miles away from three other law schools. This wouldn’t exactly create a “meaningful opportunity” to anyone in the region — except, of course, if MTSU is looking to further oversaturate the area with new lawyers and make it even harder for them to find jobs. On the other hand, MTSU’s slightly used law school would be the only public one in the area, making it more affordable for prospective students.
This is what entering student profiles have looked like at Valpo Law since 2010:
(Table via Law School Transparency)
If Middle Tennessee actually accepts this “gift,” then it may have to shape up, not only to remain in the ABA’s good graces, but to compete with the unaccredited Nashville Law, which had a very similar profile for its most recent entering class.
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Let’s see if MTSU decides to foist this “gift” upon the community, because in the end, it may become the gift that keeps on giving in the form of law school debt payments for the vast majority of law students who choose to attend. Best of luck!
Universities study plan to transfer VU law school to Tennessee campus [Chicago Post-Tribune]
Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.