ShareThisBy JIM SANDERS
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
The California Postsecondary Education Commission voted 8-3 Tuesday against construction of a $70 million law school at the University of California, Irvine.
The vote apparently deals a severe blow to plans for the proposed 92,000-square-foot facility to accommodate 600 law students.
Murray Haberman, executive director of the postsecondary education commission, said UC regents conceivably could opt to push the project despite the commission's vote.
But substantial funding must come from the state, and never before has the Legislature and governor approved a school of that magnitude without the commission's support, Haberman said.
In rejecting the Irvine project, the commission concluded that existing schools supply more than enough lawyers to meet market demand, he said.
California currently has 51,151 more attorneys than needed to accommodate market demand, and the excess will rise to 57,422 by 2014, the commission report said.
Southern California has 10 private or independent law schools but only one public law school, the report noted.
Supporters of the Irvine project claim that UC law schools, because they are located on UC campuses and retain highly talented faculty, can offer academic and social opportunities not generally found at private schools, the commission report said.
(Contact Jim Sanders at jsanders(at)sacbee.com.)
