Summary: After some major changes in the past few years at St. Louis University’s Law School, the school is staying competitive with the struggling legal education market.
Just three years after a dramatic few months, St. Louis University’s law school is feeling better than ever. The school went through a major relocation, administrative changes, and more during the same time that all law schools were struggling to keep their enrollment numbers up.
The University President at the time, Lawrence Biondi, and Dean Annette Clark were publicly fighting over Clark being left out of important decisions relating to the law school, such as its relocation. She didn’t hesitate in quitting a month before the move to a new location downtown.
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The school planned to place personal injury attorney Tom Keefe as the dean on an interim basis but he only lasted six months before also quitting. Keefe had made a series of comments that even he described as “politically incorrect.”
Moving the school was a big financial undertaking that happened when other law schools were struggling financially due to low enrollment numbers. Now three years later, the law school is located downtown and still going strong. Some even say the school is different than it used to be and in a good way.
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The law school has kept its financial undertakings quiet. There have been a number of faculty members that were bought out and an overall reduction in staff to maintain their lower enrollment rates. The number of students since 2010 has dropped by 452. As law school dean Michael Wolff explained, “We won’t ever be as big as were 10 years ago but I think we’re in a good position. We’re poised for growth.”
Wolff is also set to leave the school after being with them for 30 years. In order to be prepared for his departure, SLU hired consulting firm Alix Partners to help with potential changes in their operations.
Do you think SLU made the right choice of moving locations when they did? Tell us you thoughts in the comments below.
To learn more about the enrollment crisis, read Law Schools Hopeful that Enrollment Will Increase.
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