Editor's note: The executive summary of the panel's recommendations was shared with the Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law communities, as well as the Faculty Senate Council, on Sept. 28, 2023.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi has accepted the recommendations of the panel appointed to advise how to best reunite the university’s two separately accredited law schools, Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law, into a singularly accredited law school.
The single law school will be called Penn State Dickinson Law and its primary location will be in Carlisle with a substantial presence at University Park. Each campus will have residential student cohorts, including J.D. students at all levels, LL.M. students, and S.J.D. students, with class size being optimized over time.
“The panel developed a thorough analysis of the academic, staffing and financial facets of a single law school with two-campuses and presented a compelling vision for a law school that will be innovative in the evolving field of legal education and a leader in training future attorneys,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “I want to thank Deans Danielle Conway and Victor Romero as well as each member of the panel for working so diligently and efficiently in developing these recommendations. The work to reunite these schools is still just beginning, but I am excited about the future we are building for legal education at Penn State.”
The university announced Bendapudi’s recommendation to reunite Penn State’s two law schools in November 2022. A panel was formed in January 2023, composed of seven members each from Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law, and chaired by Penn State Dickinson Law Dean Danielle Conway with Penn State Law Interim Dean Victor Romero serving as vice chair. The committee met weekly to work collaboratively in developing its recommendation for the future of the single law school. The panel’s final recommendation had the support of every member of the panel and was shared with Bendapudi at the end of May. The president and her senior leadership team reviewed the recommendations and sought counsel from others within and outside of the university before accepting the recommendations in late July.
“Legal education has evolved for a variety of reasons throughout its history in this country, and we are in a period of significant change at this moment as law schools respond to a changing landscape where law and the legal profession are even more critical to a democratic society. I view bringing together Penn State’s two outstanding law schools as a crucial step in meeting the challenges facing the legal academy and the legal profession in preparing the next generation of lawyer leaders for society,” said Conway. “I am looking forward to working with my colleagues at Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law to put this plan into motion and begin the process of building an even stronger law school for our students, staff, faculty, administrators, the university and the commonwealth.”
The reuniting process is expected to take several years, and the leadership of the two law schools together with the university and the American Bar Association (ABA) are defining that process. The reunited school will focus on innovation and leadership in hybrid and remote instruction, exploring new ways to provide leading-edge law degrees while exploring new delivery methods, teaching models and offerings. For instance, the university is considering expanding its master of legal studies (M.L.S.), a one-year program for non-lawyers, to be delivered in-person, hybrid, and/or remote, both asynchronously and synchronously.
“I am excited about the possibilities that exist for the school we will build. We have a terrific body of faculty, staff, and students, and I am honored to be a part of the creative and collaborative process that will see this through until we have one unified school,” said Romero. “This reunification presents a tremendous opportunity for Penn State, leveraging the individual strengths of each existing law school as well as their collective and unique history of remote teaching and learning.”
As the details of the reuniting are finalized, the university will consult with the Faculty Senate. The final version must be approved by the ABA and the Penn State Board of Trustees. At this time, Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law remain separately accredited law schools and will be accepting applications for fall 2024 admissions.
Penn State will continue to work to minimize, to the greatest extent possible, the impact of the reunification on current students, staff and faculty, though there will be some reduction in faculty and staff positions, pursued primarily through natural attrition over a few years. The university will continue its commitment to its current law students by continuing to provide an outstanding, fully accredited legal education, as well as professional development opportunities including bar exam preparation and Career Services, at Carlisle and University Park.
More information will be communicated transparently as the reuniting process is refined and milestones are reached.