Indiana Political Review

A recent story in Indiana Lawyer asked the question of whether Indiana needs another law school. The argument against is that Indiana already has four law schools (Indiana, Indiana-Indianapolis, Notre Dame and Valparaiso) and, based on the number of people who take the LSAT (law school admissions test) as a percentage of the national population, Indiana is right in line with other states who have a similar number of test takers. The implication is that Indiana has plenty of schools now and doesn’t need any more.

But, the question is not whether we need more lawyers, but rather what sort of lawyers will these new law schools produce and do we need those sorts of lawyers.

I am a recent graduate of Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, Michigan (for now). Arguably, Ann Arbor was already well served by the single law school in that town (University of Michigan, a top-tier law school by most ranking systems). Ann Arbor has a population of around 114,000 people. Each year, the two law schools in that city graduate about 500 new lawyers each year. There is no way all these new lawyers could be employed in the Ann Arbor area. In Indiana each year, the total number of bar exam takers for the July bar exam is around 600 students. These two Michigan schools are cranking out almost that many students alone. Now, granted, Ann Arbor is located very near Detroit, a large city, but nonetheless, it is not likely that Detroit absorbs roughly as many law students as the entire state of Indiana. No, the difference is that each of the Ann Arbor law schools is focused nationally. Only a fraction of the graduates from these schools take the bar exam in Michigan. Likewise, most students at Notre Dame take the bar exam outside of Indiana (more Notre Dame students take the Illinois bar than any other state even though Notre Dame is located in Indiana).

The article mentions two law schools that are investigating the possibility of locating in Indiana. If these law schools have a national focus, with the ability to attract students from all over the nation (who will then return to their states to practice law), then the viability of another law school or schools is high. For instance, the board of directors of the Ave Maria School of Law where I graduated, has opted to move the school to Florida. There is much resistance to this from many of the students and faculty. I have heard rumors that some of the professors at Ave have spoken to the folks at St. Francis in Fort Wayne about teaming up with them to start a law school there. (I can’t say how accurate this rumor is, but I sincerely hope there is some merit to it). If they were able to replicate what the school had in Ann Arbor - i.e., a Catholic, conservative, nationally focused law school that lived up to the ideals of the papal encyclical Fides et Ratio, then the enterprise in Ft. Wayne may well have a chance.

Indiana has excellent law schools. But, there is something to be said for producing students who have, along with technical proficiency in the law, a strong sense of tradition and moral values. Please don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that students at other law schools do not possess these qualities, but I am saying that (with the possible exception of Notre Dame), the other law schools do not infuse the teaching of law with the depth of traditional teaching and moral foundations that is characteristic of the education that we received at Ave Maria. At every opportunity, the law was presented as part of a 2000 year-old (or at least 800 year-old) tradition at Ave.

One develops an inherently conservative view of things when he sees himself as participating in the continuation of a jurisprudence which stretches back 800 or more years. On the other hand, most law schools today view the more Holmsian approach of attaching significance to decisions that boast only a forty or fifty year ascendancy. It is the former type of lawyer that this country needs now, and which, if one were to locate in Indiana, would be a boon to the state.