UC law school builds on services

By Cliff Peale • cpeale@enquirer.com • January 29, 2011


The Enquirer/Amanda Davidson
The University of Cincinnati's College Of Law is on a prominent corner.

A new law school building on a high-profile corner at the University of Cincinnati will have to wait until UC raises up to half of the more than $60 million required.

Building on the site of the existing college at Clifton Avenue and Calhoun Street will mean moving the College of Law to another location for two years.

But until that project gets started, the school is moving ahead with a series of services designed to expand its student base beyond traditional students in their 20s seeking a law degree.

One new program is a law clinic where students can serve small companies and non-profits, with the first batch of clients coming to UC in early February.

Another is a four-week summer training program targeting lawyers in China. Starting this year probably with fewer than 20 students, the Institute for the Global Practice of Law will cost $4,000, Dean Lou Bilionis said.

"It's also a prototype for what we can do to reach other type of students," Bilionis said.

The college's expansion is a model that has spread across UC as different academic units try to attract more students and more revenue. Every dollar they collect can help offset what most anticipate will be cuts of up to 20 percent in UC's state subsidy next year.

The law school itself is boasting 408 students this year, boosted by a first-year class of 140 students, the biggest in at least a quarter-century.

Students said a new building will raise the prestige of the school, which has a reputation as a good value.

"Particularly when you bring in prospective students, they want to see new facilities," said Jesse Jenike-Godshalk, a third-year student from Mariemont and editor of the college's Law Review. "It has the power to impress."

Students are nestled into the decades-old building at Calhoun and Clifton that is one of the most visible sites on UC's main campus.

Quote:

Location: Clifton Avenue and Calhoun Street, University Heights

Tuition: $20,946 per year for Ohio residents, $36,526 for out-of-state residents.

Dean: Louis Bilionis

Enrollment: 408

UC has just started raising money. Bilionis said the building has been renovated several times and doesn't have enough usable space.

"It's a 50-year decision," he said of the project. "This is the right place. It's best for the university and it's best for the law school."

University Architect Beth McGrew said the new building will be about the same total size but will provide more instructional space.

"There's a lot of space that they can't use," McGrew said. "It's not particularly cost effective to renovate it."

Bilionis is trying to raise $30 million in private donations to pay for about half of the new building. The rest could come from the university or from state capital funds.

That's part of the college's $50 million goal for the ongoing Proudly Cincinnati capital campaign. The rest of that money could go for student scholarships, endowed professor positions and other programs.

Meanwhile, the law school has expanded its use of centers that cut across departments. It opened a new Center for Race, Gender and Social Justice last fall. Other centers concentrate on human rights, corporate law and even law and psychiatry, and several have their own endowments to support staff and programming.

Bilionis called them "intersections" where students can get real-world knowledge.

"It's a place where ideas flourish and you get innovation out of that," he said.

The school also has opened an Entrepreneurial and Community Development clinic to provide legal work for start-up companies and non-profits. Students in that program are getting their first clients this month.

Jim Sproat, a third-year student from Columbia, S.C., and president of the Student Bar Association, said the real-world experiences are critical for finding the best job out of law school.

He hasn't participated in the centers but has done judicial "externships" and the U.S. District Court offices in Cincinnati and the Campbell County prosecutor's office in Northern Kentucky.

"It's something employers are looking for," Sproat said.

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll...101300301/

"There's a lot of space that they can't use," McGrew said. "It's not particularly cost effective to renovate it."

This what public universities do with most real estate projects, the above. They might want to start designing
buildings that have 1) lots of usable space, 2) are designed from the beginning for adaptive reuse, and are
easy to renovate. The way buildings are used in the future changes, plan for it.

Akron's new Law buildings is going to cost 26 million, 95,000 sq. ft. Why does UC's need to be 60 million?