The big news out of Newark, Delaware this weekend is that the University of Delaware has delayed plans to open a law school. Delaware President had ordered a feasibility study just last December - but the results weren't good. It turns out (surprise, surprise) that quality law schools are not cash cows. And given the economy, fundraising is apparently quite slack.
Delaware goes the way of several other new law school projects languishing on the drawing board. SUNY Binghamton put their new law school on hold. Wilkes University Law School is stalled. And law school plans at SUNY Stony Brook, St. John Fisher, and the University of North Texas have also gone silent.
If the legal economy bounces back, some of these proposals may be reactivated. And the folks at Belmont University College of Law seem to be moving forward with a Fall 2011 entering class. But times have certainly changed in the law school expansion world. Opening a law school is no more of sure thing for universities than a JD is for students contemplating grad school.
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