Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Western drops plan for LV law school

CARSON CITY -- An unaccredited, private California law school, facing strong opposition from Nevada lawyers, has scrapped plans to open a campus in Las Vegas.

The Nevada Supreme Court had scheduled a meeting for Tuesday to consider a rule change that would have opened the door for Western State University College of Law to open a campus in Clark County. It has now been taken off the agenda.

"It's not worth having a war," said Marilyn Gubler, spokeswoman for Western State in Nevada. She referred to the rising opposition of lawyers to the school, which runs three campuses in California.

Western State had worked for more than six months to pave the way for the Las Vegas campus. None of its California campuses are accredited by the American Bar Association.

In order to practice law in Nevada, a student must graduate from an ABA-accredited school. Western State had asked the Supreme Court to change the rule to permit graduates of a Las Vegas campus to take the examination before the school would be accredited.

It suggested there be a seven-year waiver. To attract law students, it's necessary to guarantee they will have a chance to take and pass the bar exam when they complete their studies.

At least three of the five members of the Supreme Court initially backed Western State's request.

But there was a growing tide of opposition from lawyers, many of whom suggested they would support a public school at UNLV but didn't want an unaccredited, private school in Las Vegas.

Nevada Bar opposed

Franny Forsman, president of the Nevada Bar, said it "believes strongly Nevada deserves a school which will be able to be ABA accredited by the time of its first graduating class. Our research shows that is possible."

The Nevada Bar opposed the rule change. Forsman of Las Vegas said the bar insisted on stringent standards before Western State ever opened its doors.

Western State has been in operation in California for 30 years and never got accredited. Gubler said the ABA had declined to accredit for-profit law schools until it was forced to by the Justice Department last year. The San Diego campus of Western State is undergoing review.

Gubler said Western State offered a compromise to the Nevada Bar that a Las Vegas school would have to be affiliated with an ABA-accredited law school.

"That's initially what they (the bar) asked for," she said. "But they didn't like it last Friday.

"It was quite amazing to see the vehemence of the lawyers in opposing this. When we first proposed it, everybody thought it was a great idea." But then the lawyers "started trashing our reputation," she said. She suggested these attorneys never had the facts about the school.

Forsman said Western State's affiliation proposal would not guarantee any quality for Nevada. She said the bar feared the Nevada school could end up being the "poor sister" of the San Diego campus if it obtained accreditation.

There was no assurance Western State would make a significant investment, Forsman said. And there would not be any standard applied to the Nevada school, except being affiliated. Allowing an unaccredited law school in Nevada would mean its graduates could only practice in this state.

Gubler said: "We need a law school in Nevada. This would have been the perfect marriage of privatization into the education system. There would not have been any cost to the taxpayers."

Lawyer letters

But in the last two weeks, letters have been signed by 24 lawyers from Las Vegas blasting the Western State plan.

Las Vegas lawyer Brian Nix, a senior appeals officer for the state, wrote, "I sincerely believe that Nevada should not lower its standards in order to encourage unaccredited law school factories to infiltrate our state."

The only letter of support came from Las Vegas businessman Rodney Helm, who said the competition from a private law school would create excellence and wouldn't cost the taxpayers anything.

John Monks, president of Western State, said it would open a Las Vegas school only if "it would be treated as a respected member of the community contributing to the education and general welfare of Nevada residents."

"In the absence of an atmosphere in which such an objective could be reached, Western State will not devote its resources and efforts to opening a law school in Nevada," Monks said.

Meanwhile, UNLV has embarked on a $500,000 study to prepare for a public law school.

UNLV President Carol Harter said Wednesday she was surprised by Western State's withdrawal. The debate over the private school, she said, has helped focus and turn support to UNLV's plan, she said.

The next step, she said, is for the Board of Regents to make creation of the law school a priority in its 1997-99 budget. The regents are meeting April 25-26 in Reno.

UNLV game plan

Harter estimates that $12 million to $15 million will be needed up front to renovate a campus building, buy a law library and get the administration in place. She suggests that much of this may come from private donors. UNLV soon will be announcing a sizable pledge, she said.

About 500 Nevadans are attending law schools across the country. Harter estimates the tuition would be in the $5,000 to $7,000 range, depending on state support. The Legislature may have to chip in about $5 million a year but "law education is inexpensive" compared with some other disciplines, such as a medical school, she said.

UNLV would start with about 100 students, probably in 1999, and build it to 400. Then it would add about 100 part-time students for night classes, Harter said.

Nevada and Alaska are the only two states without law schools. Harter said the study, being conducted by Anthony Santoro, founding dean of the Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island, should be completed in a few months.

"I'm quite optimistic," Harter said of getting a law school going in Nevada. She believes the school can gain provisional accreditation of the ABA by the time its first class graduates so they can take the examination to practice law in Nevada.

But Gubler said the "chances are slim" of the state starting a law school. "The Legislature has so many priorities," she said. "The medical school is floundering for lack of money. The engineering school has problems."

Forsman agreed Nevada needs a law school but said she's willing to wait until there's a facility that can offer the best education at reasonable fees. She said there are many single parents and others who would make "wonderful lawyers" who can't uproot their lives for three or four years to move to another state to go to school.

Harter

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