Law Schools

Sorry, But The Pennsylvania Law School Merger Is Missing A Few Details

This merger makes less sense than the answers I gave for my Con Law final.

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black lawyer with headacheInstitutions are like people. And like people, sometimes they get back together after a decade or so apart. In fair Pennsylvania where we lay our scene, Penn State Dickinson Law in Carlisle and Penn State Law at University Park are putting their minds — and faculty — together. And, also like people, when you tell them that things were probably better when they were apart, the message doesn’t always get through. From Law.com:

Pennsylvania State University has officially decided to reunite its two law schools— Penn State Dickinson Law in Carlisle and Penn State Law at University Park—into one institution called Penn State Dickinson Law, with its primary location in Carlisle and a substantial presence at University Park.

“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,” Ellen Hanna, who is part of Dickinson Law’s marketing and communications team, told Law.com in an email Monday afternoon

Before we get into the details of the merger, I’d like to address a little naming concern. You might think it was a little clickbaity to mention a Penn law school merger without clarifying that I mean Penn State and not the only school that’s having a harder rebranding experience than Twitter. I think that it’s fair game. If the school is going so far as to reject applicants that refer to the school’s pre-buyout name, I think they also forfeit the right to be the default school you think of when you see Penn Law emblazoned on some article’s title. Now that that’s clear, let’s get back to the only Penn(s) that matters.

I genuinely relish any opportunity to bring out this bad boy, but this announcement seems to be a little light on the fact pattern. Yes, both schools are in Pennsylvania, but isn’t there a logistical issue about combining two law schools that are over 80 miles from each other? This isn’t a damned corporate nexus test, it’s a school! When Penn State announced this intention 10 months ago, there was expected backlash not only from the students, but the professors as well.

In mid-December, 42 law professors released a faculty statement that said: “We, the undersigned faculty members of Penn State Law, look forward to informing the panel of the tremendous value that Penn State Law has to the University and the State College community, which would be lost if the unified law school did not maintain a significant presence in University Park.”

I’m sure the professors will appreciate the bit of lip service that the marketing and communications team created, but I’m sure they’ve graded enough papers to know when they’re being bullshat — the Penns have had 10 months to answer the professors’ concerns with pragmatic responses on how the merger would go down. The details and logistics are about as sparse now as they were November of 2022.

Will students be expected to take part in the “substantial presence” at the other campus? Because even if the newly merged Penn State became a competitor with HYS, there’s no way 1Ls are going to quietly have morning Contract at Carlisle and then take an hour and a half shuttle to get their asses handed to them with Torts cold calls at University Park — what sense does it make to play the one school game? People will still specify if they attend Penn Carlisle or Penn University Park depending on where they spend the lion’s share of their time. And if the school is going to lean into “innovation and leadership” with remote instruction, what’s the intent on emphasizing physical loci? Is a student going to have to take a train to the substantial other campus so they can log into Zoom while their professor teaches from Hawaii?

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Rutgers is New Jersey’s state college and it has three campuses. As an alum, I can personally attest that the campuses are pretty integrated: any enrolled student can borrow books from any of the three campuses, not to mention that the school ID grants you access to buildings throughout the three campuses. Integrated as it is, Rutgers at least has the common sense to treat their Newark and Camden law schools as separate schools. Know why? Because they are 80 miles apart from each other. If the C-suite has any intention on this merger actually working and not being DOA so they can cut costs, they better figure things out very quickly.

It’s Official: Penn State’s Two Law Schools Will Be Reunited [Law.com]

Editor’s Note 08/16/2023: It looks like I gave one of the worst counter examples possible. As it turns out, Rutgers combined its Rutgers-Camden and Rutgers-Newark law schools in to Rutgers Law back in 2015. While it took a little bit of time to settle out, there was a net improvement in school ranking. Prior to the merger, the Newark campus was ranked 87 to the Camden campus’ 102 in 2015. The merger debuted the school at #92. The leap in ranking was regarded as unusual fo the period. It was right to catch people off guard given that Rutgers Law School is currently ranked #109. If Penn State models their merger off of Rutgers Law it may speak to viability, but the jury is still out on if it will translate to a long term jump in ranking.

Earlier: Law School Merger Announcement Shocks Students
No One Knows What Penn State Law’s ‘Unification’ Even Means, But Closing University Park Seems Like A Bad Idea

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