Leppert, Branch, West and Jackson Pitch the Downtown Law School: "Do It for Jimmy."

By Robert Wilonsky Wed., Apr. 22 2009 at 5:40 PM

Categories: News

Another sneak peek at the exterior of the Municipal Building, should it become the University of North Texas law school in 2012

As the University of North Texas Law College -- or UNT at Dallas College of Law, whatever it's going to be called -- inches closer toward becoming a reality in the old Municipal Building downtown, its supporters are working overtime to get the entire state Legislature behind the idea. Which is why tomorrow's Austin American-Statesman will carry this op-ed by its four biggest proponents: Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert; state Senator Royce West; state Rep. Dan Branch, author of H.B. 59; and former Dallas County Judge Lee Jackson, chancellor of the University of North Texas System.

And why do they care so? Meet Jimmy.

Jimmy, a disabled Army veteran who served in Bosnia, dreams of becoming a lawyer "to help as many people as possible."

But Jimmy, a 36-year-old paralegal in Addison, is not your traditional law school applicant. His wife has an established career as an accountant, and the couple supports his disabled mother-in-law in Wylie.

To attend law school, Jimmy would rely on the Hazlewood Act, which provides educational benefits to honorably discharged Texans. However, the program is only available for public institutions, and North Texas lacks a public law school.

The Legislature has the power to change the ending to Jimmy's story and help other students who have put legal education plans on hold. Now is the time to create the UNT at Dallas College of Law.

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I am 45 years old and have raised 6 children. My wife and I together earn $130,000 a year and we have a nice home in the country and live very comfortably.In my life I have seen many things, and I have discovered that money doesn't make the person. I have come to know people with alot of money who have no character and I have come to know people of little means who are wonderful people. I have seen how people with little money have suffered great losses because they simply could not afford an attorney. I have seen women live for years with an abusive husband simply because they couldn't afford a divorce and they couldn't simply leave becasue of children. I have seen people wrongfully arrested and agree to a guilty plee simply because they could afford a real lawyer and their appointed lawyer told them that a plea was their only option. People have entered in to contracts for deeds when buying a home only to loose the home because they didn't have a dead of trust drawn up by an attorney. People die without wills. Leaving their affairs in mess and leaving their loved ones to fight over what should have already been decided for them. People are taken advantage of by big buisness and big government every day simply because they have know knowledge of the law. Any one who thinks we have enough lawyers has never had to pay for one. Lawyers don't come cheep. Maybe if we had more then they would work for less. I am going to finish my baas degree at UNT starting fall 2010. In one year I will graduate then I have plans to go to UNT School of Law. When I pass the Bar I will not be looking to land a job at some big fancy law firm. I will simply go back to my small town and help a few people and continue to live a comfortable and happy life. Dallas should be proud that it is offering people an affordable alternative to SMU.
Ugh, I was wrong - that's what I get for skimming. Also: wow, "Jay" is THAT Jay? Really?
I skimmed the other comments, but I don't think anyone else has said it yet: It would be a hell of a lot cheaper to just put Jimmy through school at SMU and be done with it. that said, uh... go mean green?
i didn't see where it covered this in the story (and a bit of a non-sequitur), but was wondering why he wouldn't have qualified for the VA vocational rehabilitation program. when i left the navy 10 years ago, vets with more than a 10% disability were eligible for vocational rehabilitation, which provided 100% of tuition, books, fees, etc... plus a decent monthly stipend to basically any institution you could get accepted to, public or private.
There actually is a lack of public defenders and some other public servants. However, a public defender's salary will most likely never pay for a law degree from SMU. As long as people don't get dillusions of grandeur, thinking a law degree from UNT will land them glamorous jobs at private law firms, this school might fill an important niche. Private companies may have the luxury of recruiting from Harvard and the occasional SMU law grad. The city of Dallas, from what I know, doesn't attend career fairs throughout the country. This school is in a good location as well. It can be used as a tool for continuing education, and will hopefully draw some strong guest speakers whom work nearby. Also, school is what people make of it. An Ivy league degree doesn't entitle people to a stellar job (although it does give you a huge leg up on the UNT grad.) And, attending Yale as opposed to UNT doesn't guarantee that you will become magically smarter. That may have been so 15 years ago and prior, but the internet puts your education in your own hands since everybody now has access to the same books, lecture notes, and video lectures. This has made it so most schools are effectively the same when it comes to teaching. The percentage of grads who pass the the TX BAR will determine how effective this school is. What I'm trying to say, and this goes back to my previous point, is that a school doesn't make anyone smarter or more qualified to be in law, its just that smarter and more qualified people tend to go to more prestigious schools. So I think this school has 3 important purposes which will make it worth it. Here they are in order of importance (1 being the most): 1) Fill severely under-staffed public defender positions. 2) Give professionals who got a law degree elsewhere and work near downtown access to contiued education (I doubt most companies are too happy footing the bill for their staff taking classes at SMU.) 3) Give a few (possibly very few) smart and qualified people that are for some reason unable to afford SMU or move away from the metro-plex a chance to launch a career with a solid company. Obviously, this is not a top-tier law school and will probably draw a lot of people that should never be lawyers in the first place or kids that just graduated and have nothing better to do with their time. This is where you will have your people that can't pass the BAR, and thus throw away money, and future ambulance chasers. That's unfortunately the nature of things. There's always going to be some collateral damage. I also agree that there needs to be more trade schools etc. as mentioned previously, but putting these downtown would be a silly idea.
How about a trade,then. Since there are FAR too many MBAs being minted every year (and, for some reason, even with the MBA-created financial meltdown, people still only complain about the lawyers, how about we let SMU keep being the only law school in Dallas proper, but they have to shut down their business school in exchange? And everybody else, too, until we get down to only two programs in the Metroplex. Everybody seems to want to draw the line at nine Texas law schools but has no problem with 50 or more MBA-granting programs.
Scott, the mansard roof is already there, and has been there from the time it was built. Hey, I've got a great idea. Let's oppose doing anything with that building so that it continues to deteriorate and gets demolished! That'll be great for Dallas!
How many members of the Dallas City Council are lawyers? I don't know the answer to that question. The only lawyer on the council of whom I am aware is Angela Hunt. She is the only member of the Dallas City Council who can be counted upon to: 1. Read the fine print that comes up in all these "deals" 2. Understands the fine print. The rest of the council maybe reads, and maybe understands, the two paragraph summaries. There are times that laywers can be very helpful.
Having spent a sizable chuck of my life involved with UNT, I don't trust them to do it right.
There are 435 Representatives and 100 Senators for a total of 535 members of Congress.Tthe 109th Congress included 228 members who hold law degrees and 217 members whose former occupation was in law. With the exception of former state legislators, lawyers were the dominant professional group. Ever wonder why our Federal govenrment is so screwed up? There are better uses for this facility. Medical / engineering / trades, beauty school? What do lawyers and sperm have in common? Only one in a million does anything usefull.
The majority of out-of-state law grads coming to Texas are coming from highly ranked schools, not some fourth-tier municipal law school started up by a bunch of moron politicos. Do you really think the idiots graduating from the Dallas City Law School are going to be competing with the grads from those top schools? Instead, they are going to be $30,000 a year lawyers trolling for clients wherever they can!
what's up with that ugly crown in the picture. That building is a classical design, why put a mansard roof on it? For all the defenders of historic buildings where is your outrage?
So we should build a multi-million dollar law school to help this one guy make what could very likely be a terribly ill-advised career move? Wouldn't it be tons, tons cheaper just to give him a scholarship to Dedman.
I think it's cool to have a law school coming in downtown. I hope this works out.
PlanoDave says: The world has too many friggin' lawyers already. ================================ I agree. But a law degree can lead to many careers and seems to be a stepping stone to the political arena. Jay is also right. Have a good show today, tell Ernie I said, "Hey".
Uh DBK There is already a lush green park being built in front of the building. That is not Main Street in front of the building, and it appears to be cars driving down a street in that pic. Putting a college downtown makes sense since many Law firms and courts, are downtown Despite their commonly misrepresented reputation, Lawyers are one of the many things that make our country great. Saying their are too many Lawyers is like saying there are too many Chefs, makes no sense.
NO MORE LAWYERS!
I have been following the progress of this school at www.youngtexaslawyer.com and most of the comments there are echoed here.
HOW BOUT THAT PIC! They're going to tear out main street and the municipal parking garage, and replace it with coeds standing on emerald turf? I doubt.
THECB has noted no need for a law school.
How long until this law school is accredited? I doubt it will receive automatic ABA accreditation, or if that is even possible.
As a licensced lawyer, I can say without reservation there is absolutely nothing good that will be accomplished by a UNT law school. Furthermore, it is being pitched on faulty logic (i.e. Dallas has to hire 40% of its lawyers from out of state). Such ridiculous statements that have no bearing in reality should make everyone hold onto their wallets...sadly, the snake oil pitch of the law school being a cash cow is believed by too many.
Maybe enough will be enough when people in this country start electing non-lawyers to public office (or actively encouraging/incentivizing non-lawyers to run for office) or laying down the red carpet for law grads in positions that have nothing to do with law in companies, national, and international institutions, and NGO's all over the country and the world. Anybody want to be a "consultant"? Whatever the hell that means. Unfortunately there are too many lawyers but the fact that you can TOO easily use your law degree for something else means the flood won't stop anytime soon. The other side of the coin is just because there are other law schools doesn't mean Dallas has a responsibility to not COMPETE for the same students. Which is probably what they'll be doing. Hopefully it'll add some life to downtown. Doubtful but doesn't seem like a big deal either way.
As a Texas law student about to graduate and enter an oversaturated market already I agree with PlanoDave. Between SMU, Texas Wesleyan, Texas Tech and the plethora of other Texas and Louisiana law schools ... when will "enough" be enough?
Texas in particular is already over-lawyered, according to law school professors; law students are currently being advised to have a second career or backup plan. Transferring to another state's bar association is not easy, and usually takes years for full accreditation.
The world has too many friggin' lawyers already. We don't need another institution to churn them out. Here's an idea. Use some of the ones we already have to shore up the levees.
Those four are the BEST advertisement for not having a law school in North Texas.