Representatives from the Earle Mack School of Law have postponed their preliminary plans to build the new law facility in light of market conditions and expense, according to Founding Dean Roger Dennis.
“It’s a challenging time for the legal profession and we didn’t think it would be responsible to increase the size of the law school in light of the challenges of the profession,” Dennis said.
Additionally, more pressing construction jobs, including the LeBow College of Business building and the URBN Center, have preempted talk of revamping the law school site.
Erected in 2006, the current law building was always meant to be a temporary home to the school. The realities of the job market have impeded expansion and required the faculty to find other ways to accommodate law students, Dennis noted.
“We’ve spent a fair amount of the University’s money converting temporary space into more permanent space. It’ll allow us to live in this space for a number of years to come,” he said.
This permanent space was created by redesigning parts of the law building for more offices.
“And we’re getting a classroom in the Integrated Sciences Building,” Dennis added.
Dennis said the plans to replace the law building are a “long-term goal,” that have been talked about since the school opened in 2006.
The now-delayed proposal would require 235 students per class to be feasible. The building would
provide additional classrooms, offices and a separate law library, and would contain more case study rooms to accommodate “the way business schools work now,” Dennis said
The Earle Mack School of Law building, erected in 2006, will remain the home of the law school after the postponement of plans to build a new law building. Dean Roger Dennis cited job market conditions and expenses as reasons for the postponement.
“It’d just be a design catered to the size of the faculty and student body that we’d be aiming for in that point in time,” he continued.
In the meantime, Dennis is focusing on giving the students in his college every competitive advantage available to them by providing a strong curriculum and emphasizing the importance of real world experience.
“We’re being very proactive in designing a curriculum and aggressively marketing our students, but nevertheless there’s a reality of the marketplace,” Dennis said.
“We want to be in a position to work with our students as they face the job market, to be responsible about the size of the school and about our ability to help our students get really good jobs when they graduate,” he continued.
Dennis called the college’s small size a “competitive advantage,” one that has allowed for a greater sense of community between members of the school.
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I have always thought that if and when the Law School builds a larger Law School Building, it should consider the site on the North side of Market Street from 31st Street to 32nd Street. By building a facility with similar architecture to the Engineering school buildings, the University could create a canyon effect which would be distinctive. In addition, the future Law School Building at this site could offer office space to local Law Firms which could assist in paying off the debt service for the building. Seton Hall University Law School did the same thing when they built a Law School Building in Newark, NJ.
I think it would be even nicer if they could put it where the tire store is.
I can understand the delay of a building, but it would be nice to get the third floor of the library back sometime soon.
Maybe they can focus the planning, financing and engineering on a basketball arena in which the alumni and the school are actually proud of …..and based on the great success of the team and coaching staff they deserve it now the administration needs to step up and just get it done……but they have been working on this for the past 20 yrs…go figure… "don't give me your problems – give me your solutions"
Speaking of the basketball program, I think Drexel should step up to the A 10 Conference. If Drexel and Delaware joined together, the Conference would have 16 teams which would be the same as the Big East. Drexel would then join Temple, St Joe and LaSalle in a City of Philadelphia dominated league; the continuing rivalry with Delaware would also be a plus.
A-10 and a new arena would really be a nice fit for DU basketball. Will either ever happen? Th promise of an arena has been out there for years… the Armory would have worked beautifully but that stopped before it started. Any REAL plan for an arena?