On Dec. 6, University of North Texas Chancellor Lee F. Jackson announced the UNT System intends to seek approval from the Texas Legislature and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to establish a new public law school in downtown Dallas.

A number of Dallas area legislators — including Texas State Senator Royce West and State Representative Tony Goolsby — and Dallas Mayor Laura Miller joined Jackson at the UNT System’s announcement ceremony on the steps of the Old Municipal Building, located at 106 S. Harwood, to demonstrate their support for the project.

West, who has worked with the UNT System since 1998 on the rapidly-advancing plans to build and open the University of North Texas at Dallas, will introduce a bill in the 2005 legislative session that will authorize the UNT System to begin the process of establishing the law school. Goolsby, a UNT alumnus, will sponsor the bill in the Texas House.

UNT has explored the need for a public law school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 1980, when it began developing a law library collection. At that time, the UNT Board of Regents determined that the growing Dallas-Fort Worth area should be the next area in Texas to have access to a public legal education program. Texas Tech initiated the last new public law school in the state. Law classes began there in 1967.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board studied this issue in 2002 and concluded that the two most underserved regions of the state for legal education are the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area and the Rio Grande Valley.

Jackson pointed to the study’s conclusion that the ever-growing North Texas area (with a current population around 5.6 million) is the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. without a public law school.

“Our economy is the most dynamic in the state and we produce more than 1,700 new legal jobs each year in North Texas, but our employers must recruit trained attorneys from other regions and states. And it is a disservice to our college graduates who are interested in going to law school who live in this area,” he said.

In 2003, the UNT System negotiated briefly with Texas Wesleyan University about the possibility of acquiring the TWU law school. When Texas Wesleyan trustees voted to keep the school, UNT immediately reaffirmed its commitment to create a public law school.

At the time, Jackson said, “UNT believes that the Dallas-Fort Worth region needs a public law school that can deliver affordable, high-quality legal education. Many qualified students in this region are required to relocate if they want to pursue a law degree, either because of the cost or the limited availability of entry into the region’s two private law school programs.”

In Texas, the average private law school tuition is $19,000 — and that is more than three times higher than the average public law school tuition at $6,000.

In making today’s announcement, Jackson emphasized the UNT System’s commitment to serve Dallas.

“We are especially interested in downtown and southern Dallas and we are certain a new public law school in the downtown area will complement the new university we are planning on Camp Wisdom Road, where we are currently designing the first UNT at Dallas campus buildings,” he said.

Commenting on the project, West said, “The community has made it clear that one of the centers of professional educational excellence it desires to see in Dallas is a public law school. Now, as the UNT System and the City of Dallas are coming together as a team, we are beginning to see the feasibility of a public law school that will ultimately be part of the University of North Texas at Dallas.

“Our goal for the proposed UNT College of Law,” he said, “is to provide opportunities for area students to pursue a first-class legal education at an affordable cost.”

Miller said, “I am very excited about the prospect of UNT bringing a public law school to downtown Dallas. I'm particularly pleased the university is looking at the city’s Old Municipal Building as a site. Such an institution will be a cornerstone to our central business district and a major asset in our efforts to revitalize downtown Dallas.”

Addressing the two private law schools already in the area — SMU in Dallas and Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth— Jackson emphasized that UNT’s plans include conducting a professional feasibility study to determine how best to work in concert with instead of competing against those programs.

Although plans may change as the project evolves, Jackson acknowledges that a first step will be to look at the feasibility of locating the new University of North Texas College of Law in the Old Municipal Building, the five-story landmark that served as City Hall until 1978 — and where for many years the fifth floor was used as the city jail. The building was constructed in 1914 at a cost of $700,000.