Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Regents approve UNLV law school

FALLON -- Creation of a law school at UNLV will top the "wish list" for the University and Community College System of Nevada when it approaches the 1997 Legislature.

An enthusiastic Board of Regents gave unanimous approval Thursday to making the law school its first priority of new initiatives the system will be asking for.

After the regents endorsed the law school, UNLV President Carol Harter said she was happy to see a unanimous vote and stressed this would not replace any existing programs.

Chancellor Richard Jarvis said the presidents of all the campuses agree that a UNLV law school should head the list over other suggested projects to improve the system.

Harter told the regents Nevada is going to have more lawyers. The issue, she said, is who is going to educate them -- Nevada's university system or out-of-state schools.

There has been talk of a law school since 1973 and there have been four feasibility studies. The 1995 Legislature authorized $500,000 for the latest study.

As envisioned by Harter, the school would open in September 1998 with an estimated 119 students and grow to an estimated 513 by the year 2005-2006. Tuition would range from $5,000 to $7,000 per year and the state would be asked to contribute $3.5 million to $4.5 million annually.

Right now, she said, there are 500 Nevadans who are spending $11 million a year to attend out-of-state law schools. And graduates of the UNLV school will "not glut" the market of attorneys.

She said there is one lawyer for every 340 people in Nevada compared with the national average of one attorney for every 313 individuals. With Nevada's population growth, she said, there will be a need for 973 new attorneys by the turn of the century.

Nevada and Alaska are the only states without a law school. A private California law school -- Western State -- started an effort to begin a school in Las Vegas but ran into strong opposition from the Nevada Bar Association and pulled out.

Franny Forsman, president of the bar, told the regents the association was opposed to a nonaccredited law school such as Western State. But it strongly supports a school at UNLV.

Harter said the timetable for getting accreditation by the American Bar Association will allow every graduate of UNLV to take the Nevada bar exam. To be eligible to practice in Nevada, a student must have graduated from an accredited school.

Harter sees the school getting provisional accreditation by the year 2000 and full approval from the ABA by 2002.

In the beginning, the school would use existing space on the UNLV campus or rent some nearby. The Dickinson Library on the campus is due to be replaced and the plan calls for a $10 million refurbishing of it to house the law school.

Harter said a group of donors is guaranteeing to raise $6.5 million for the school. And she said she hopes to have a firm announcement by the next regents meeting in August.

The school, which would take full- and part-time students, would specialize in gaming, entertainment, mining, land and water law.

If approved by the Legislature, one of the first steps would be to hire a dean. A consulting report said a $175,000 salary for that position "would not be out of line." That's more money than the presidents of the campuses now make.

According to the consulting report prepared by Anthony Santoro, president of Roger Williams University Law School in Rhode Island, UNLV can expect to pay the staff anywhere from $80,000 for an experienced assistant professor to $120,000 for an experienced professor.

Nancy Masters, representing UNLV's Faculty Senate, said the proposed law school has the support of many faculty members but it is not unanimous. Harter quipped that there are not many things that get unanimous support at the campus.

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