How UNT-Dallas' Grand Law School Experiment Could Be Overruled

DALLAS — In August 2014, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht stood before the incoming students of the state’s newest law school and made a proclamation: “The legal profession needs you.”

Yes, there were 95,000 licensed lawyers in Texas — more twice the number of doctors in the state, he said. And yes, many firms were cutting back on hiring, making job prospects dim. But millions of poor and middle class Texans needed legal help, and not enough lawyers were working to provide it, he said. The University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law could change that.

“We have every hope that what happens here can begin to narrow the justice gap and change our profession for the better,” Hecht said at the school’s inaugural convocation.

The school was built with those goals in mind, and it has flouted many of the conventions of traditional law schools. It has targeted diverse, working-class students, who seem serious about lives in public service. And it has avoided worrying about building up its national ranking.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2016/08/23/unt-dallas-wants-fix-law-school-it-may-not-get-cha/