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After tough birth, UCI School of Law opens Monday
August 23rd, 2009, 6:00 am · 25 Comments · posted by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
Brandon Wong, Staff Photographer, New University
The birth was difficult. Will infancy be any easier?
An answer will slowly begin to emerge Monday when UC Irvine realizes a dream that goes back almost half a century: Opening a law school.
Sixty-two students will take their first classes in a program that some people pointedly opposed, arguing there are already too many lawyers in California, and that the situation has worsened during the recession. Many lawyers have been getting laid off.
UCI, and the UC system, pushed back, saying a quality UC law school is needed south of Los Angeles and that it can thrive with a focus on public interest law.
The UC gots its way: The UC School of Law officially comes to life Monday. But its a dream that came with considerable embarrassment nationally, as well as locally.
Chancellor Michael Drake raided Duke University in September 2007 for a high profile dean, constitutional law expert Erwin Chemerinsky, who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. About a week later, Chemerinsky was fired in a flap over his liberal political views. (Full Register coverage). An uproar followed, leading Drake to rehire Chemerinsky, a gregarious scholar who emphasizes the word you when asking people, “How are you doing today?”
Erwin Chemerinsky, founding dean, UCI School of Law. Image by Orange County Register
“(Drake) received intense pressure over a short period of time from some very influential conservatives that convinced him that I would not succeed as dean and if he went forth with me … he would not succeed in some things he had worked hard to achieve,” says Chemerinsky, 56.
“In light of that, I understood why he did what he did.”
There were some tense moments when the brouhaha occurred. But Chemerinsky says, “I adore (Drake). I would not have accepted this job if I didn’t respect and admire him so much.”
The controversy has faded and given way to some positive publicity: UCI pledged to pay the entire tuition of its inaugural class, which will cost about $6 million. So far, Irvine has raised $4.5 million, but says it can rustle up the rest, likely by the end of this year. The school is in the midst of a $100 million fundraising campaign. It’s raised about $27 million so far. School officials says multi-million gifts may soon be coming from donors in Europe and China. The school has already created a Korea Law Center. (Full story.)
The free tuition helped UCI attract highly qualified applicants – people like Tracey Steele of Missouri, who said the financial offer “absolutely” influenced his decision to seek at spot at Irvine, which occupies a complex that looks like a medical official building.
UCI crowed about the applicant pool in April, saying in a news release that the school “has chosen its inaugural class by accepting only 4 percent of its applicants, making it the most selective of any law school in the nation.”
The release emphasized that Irvine is even more selective than Yale, which has one of the most respected law schools in the world. But the claim was wildly out of context. Although Yale provides varying levels of financial aid to students, it doesn’t give free tuition to everyone. Yale also has more than 12,000 alumni, including three U.S. Supreme Court justices , and two future US presidents went there.
But there is no disputing that UCI fared well in recruiting founding faculty. Brian Leiter’s influential Law School Reports blog says Irvine’s law faculty ranks among the top 10 nationally in scholarly productivity. The scholars include internationally known psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, an expert on eyewitness testimony.
STAR FACULTY: World-renowned psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, who has a joint appointment in the law school.
UCI’s law school also was recently the subject of a positive profile (read story) in the American Bar Association Journal, which noted Chemerinsky’s determination to produce lawyers that have as many practical skills as intellectual might. The dean emphasized that goal in an interview with The Register, saying UCI’s curriculum has little in resemblance with schools like Duke, where there’s a heavy emphasis on such things as contracts, criminal law and legal writing.
“We have a year-long course on lawyering skills. … All lawyers need to negotiate. Doesn’t matter if they’re litigators or transactional lawyers. … All lawyers have to interview, whether it is prospective clients or witnesses. So let’s teach interviewing the first year. We now have an agreement with the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, the Public Law Center and the Orange County Public Defender that they’ll allow our first-year students to do in-take interviews in their second semester with real clients. I don’t know of any other law school that has first year students doing in-take interviews.”
Will Chemerinsky’s emphasis on innovation as well as traditional law education get the school anywhere? He makes this promise: “I sincerely believe that from the moment that we first get ranked (by U.S. News and World Report) we will be ranked in the top 20. Top 25, of course.”
Sample of inaugural class profiles
New University story about law school’s inaugural class
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Oh great. That’s all we need. A new batch of lawyers thrown at Orange County. Why didn’t they just expand the medical school? We could always use more physicians, particularly with the healthcare crisis.
Obs, Irwin and UCI think we will need more new lawyers to sue the new doctors and new medical schools. Although, less than half of all lawyers in California are employed fulltime as lawyers; can’t work fullttime because of the glut. That’s just among those who belong to the bar, doesn’t count those who gave up and don’t/can’t pay dues. Well, there’s an election year coming, they can all run for public office.
There is a shortage of primary care doctors in the United States.
[An uproar followed, leading Drake to rehire Chemerinsky, a gregarious scholar who emphasizes the word you when asking people, “Who are you doing today?” ]
“Who”?
If he wasn’t a lawyer I would guess this was a misprint.
Blumonkey: Thanks for catching my error. I meant to say “How” instead of who. I’ve corrected the copy. I’ve corrected the error, and also emailed an apology to Dr. Chemerinsky.
Last thing we need is more lawyers…
Didnt they get the memo that there is a over-saturation of lawyers as it is and many cant find jobs in law?
Thats why plenty are getting into illegal activities such as “pre-paid” loan mods.
Amen to OCObserver’s comment. But right now, any good news coming out of the UC system is very welcome. If California (and OC) wants a first-world economy going forward, it needs first-world public higher education. Not everyone can, should, or wants to go to Stanford.
I imagine EC emphasizes the word “you” when he asks “HOW are you doing today?”
As liberal as he might be, I doubt he gets so personal as to inquire “WHO are you doing today.”
there are more lawyers in california than in all of China. Lawyers control everything in this country to the detriment of everyone else. healthcare crisis: nothing can be done until tort reform is part of the package. Cost of doing business in this country: trial lawyers and class action law suits. The benefits of having lot of lawyers have been eclipsed by their numbers. Who’s the genius behind this law school? He should know Shakespeare.
Embryo-Gate’,Cadaver-Gate’ etc.and now Chereminsky -Gate.’
Good luck!
When will the UC Regents realise and correct the deeply flawed recruitment system for faculty that attracts the opportunists and repels the academically excellent ,at all levels right from the top down.?
The law school looks set to follow the institutionalised scandalous mediocrity of the ‘California College of Medicine’ based medical school..
Paul: Your remark is surprising. Dr. Chemerinsky is highly regarded by conservatives and liberals. The law community said it was something of a coup that Irvine got him. And yet you imply that he’s academically flawed.
Wasn’t Chemerinsky one of OJ’s original attorney in the murder trial? That was a long time ago so my memory is foggy. But I seem to remember his name getting thrown into the mix.
Dr. Chemerinsky was not one of O.J. Simpson’s attorneys. He served as a TV commentator during part of the trial.
Assuming the economy improves and the students get hired, salaries aren’t as competitive as people think.
http://lawshucks.com/layoff-tracker/
As of July 26, 2009 5,190 lawyers have been laid off from MAJOR law firms since July 1, 2008.
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-lawyer
The average lawyer salary in Irvine, CA is $62,000
Good article today. I didn’t realize that the school would cost $6M for the first year. Another example of fiscal responsibility by the UC system.
Ahhh. But we are going to turn out more liberal lawyers such as Irwin Chemorinsky and we certainly need more of them! A large number were taken off the market because they went to Washington and the California State Legislature.
The $6 million is not for the first year of the inaugural class. It is for all three years of the class’ education.
Gary,
Your very welcome. I’m glad I caught it before it before someone else did. I would hate to see the Reg get sued.
Gary
Your’s are the very surprising remarks.
Please reread your own article.
This re-appointment is to say the least contentious,occurring only after an embarrassing retraction of Chemerinsky’s firing by a humiliated Chancellor ,under the sort of threat that has no place in an academic institution ,and which further besmirches UCI.
Everybody lost here.
Furthermore your biased attempts to then whitewash the affair are even more disturbing ,and really damage your credibility.
I have read your science editing.Let’s stick to that.
Paul: You state that, “When will the UC Regents realise and correct the deeply flawed recruitment system for faculty that attracts the opportunists and repels the academically excellent ,at all levels right from the top down.?” In other words, you’re saying that Dr. Chemerinsky is an opportunist and not academically excellent. Liberals and conservatives disagree with you. The new dean has received praise from both sides during his career. It is true that many conservatives don’t like his liberal leanings. But the fact is, Chemerinsky is widely considered to be a top constitutional scholar who has argued several cases before the United States Supreme Court. The difference here is that you’re making a political statement because you don’t like his politics. I gave a straight forward account of the dean’s background in the legal community. One last thing: UCI Chancellor Michael Drake apologized to the Irvine faculty for the way he handled the Chemerinsky firing/hiring/rehiring. I was in the audience when he made his remarks. Said another way, the chancellor said he made a mistake, and most of the faculty seems to have forgiven him for it.
Paul by the way you form your arguments and how badly structured they are. You do not seem educated at all, please stop making yourself look bad.
Me thinketh he doth protest too much
I rest my case
Paul: You didn’t have a case to begin with. You had a political insult, which is fine, as long as you cop to it. Which you didn’t.
People who are saying that there is a lawyer glut may be correct about the total number of lawyers, but there are realities underneath that number that point in UCI’s favor. I worked as an attorney for five years at large law firms, and I heard repeatedly that it was difficult to get highly qualified lawyers from good schools. Sure, there are plenty of lawyers from lower-tier schools around, but the supply of lawyers from the top schools has not increased even when demand increased - their classes have remained largely the same size. That is why salaries exploded - every firm was desperate to get the graduates from the top schools, which in California means Stanford, Berkeley, Hastings, UC Davis, UCLA and USC. They were even desperate to get the top students from mid-tier schools like Pepperdine and McGeorge. I also worked for a big firm in Orange County, which was a huge proponent of a major law school in the OC, so that it would have a natural base for recruitment. UCI is definitely set up for success, believe me.
The job market for lawyers is down now, no question. But so is every industry’s job market, with a couple of exceptions. By the time UCI’s first class graduates, things should be better, and students with the kind of credentials these appear to have should be in good demand.
There is a typo in the article
“The UC gots its way”
I agree AngelsFan,
California has a serious problem, while I may not agree with UCI opening a law school, California could help itself by restricting the lower law schools, especially the non-ABA schools. California is one of the few states where you can go to a non-ABA school and still sit for the bar. I am appalled at the quality of lawyering I have seen from lawyers from these schools. I would argue that a fairnumber of these nonABA attorneys are the ones in the loan mod scandals (but that is just my fuel to stoke the fire).