Law Schools

In a challenging fundraising climate, the first new public law school in California in more than a generation begins classes Monday at UC Irvine with 61 top-flight students, a highly regarded faculty and the goal of becoming a model for an innovative legal education emphasizing hands-on experience and public service. It has been less than two years since the school's founding dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, was hired, fired and rehired by UCI Chancellor Michael Drake during a weeklong fiasco that focused attention on Chemerinsky's outspoken liberal politics and whether conservative critics had quietly lobbied for his ouster.

After liberal constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky was hired, fired and then rehired as dean of the fledgling UC Irvine School of Law last year, some said the politically charged controversy meant Orange County had missed its shot at a nationally renowned law school.

UC Irvine's new law school, set to open next fall, is offering a big incentive to top students worried about the cost of a legal education during the recession: free tuition for three years. The financial carrot is part of an ambitious strategy by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, a renowned constitutional law scholar, to attract Ivy League-caliber students. The school hopes to offer full scholarships to all 60 members of its inaugural class in 2009 -- but only the best and brightest need apply.

It costs twice as much to attend UC Davis law school today as it did four years ago. At UCLA's business school, fees have risen nearly 120% during the same period. Throughout the University of California, medical, nursing and dentistry students have faced similar hikes. The UC Board of Regents, meeting in Los Angeles this week, will consider an additional 10% fee increase for law and business schools.

Erubey Lopez began law school at UCLA two years ago knowing he wanted to become an immigration attorney. But Lopez, an immigrant himself, got an earlier start than expected this spring. In an effort to provide real-world experience to students and attract young talent to the specialty, UCLA School of Law created an immigration clinic this year.

Chapman University has chosen John C. Eastman, an expert on constitutional law who teaches at the law school and appears frequently as a legal commentator on radio and TV, as new dean for its law school, university officials said Tuesday. Eastman, who has been on the law school's faculty since 1999 and is the school's interim associate dean of administration, replaces Parham Williams, who has announced his retirement.

The UC Board of Regents on Thursday affirmed its decision to build a law school at UC Irvine despite objections from the California Post-Secondary Education Commission that the state doesn't need another public law school. The commission maintained that the state did not need more lawyers, that the cost was not justified and that the law school would duplicate other services.

Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren will donate $20 million to get UC Irvine's fledgling law school off the ground and have it named in his honor. The donation, announced Monday, will ensure that the Donald Bren School of Law will greet an expected first class of 67 students on schedule in fall 2009, said UCI Chancellor Michael V. Drake. "Mr Bren is an astute investor and . . . wants this law school to be the very best that it can be," Drake said.

Re "Bren donation will fund UC Irvine law school," Aug. 14 What this country needs is more nursing schools, not more law schools. Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren would do some good for this country by investing in a new nursing school rather than a law school. Has anyone ever heard someone say that we have a shortage of lawyers? Julian Keithahn San Juan Capistrano

Erwin Chemerinsky, one of the country's best-known constitutional law experts, is a leading candidate to be the first dean of UC Irvine's Donald Bren School of Law, according to someone involved in the selection process. It is not known whether the school is still considering other candidates, but the university is expected to announce its choice in the next four weeks. Chemerinsky has been a professor at Duke University since 2004, after 21 years at the USC Law School.