A new law school plans to open while another cuts its class size significantly

We've previously told you about plans to open a new law school in Fort Wayne, Indiana (here) bringing the total number of law schools in that state to 5 and bringing the total number of schools within a 3 hour drive of Fort Wayne to 7. (here). The National Law Journal is reporting that ground has now been broken for the new Indiana Tech School of Law facility which is scheduled to open for business in fall, 2013.

Indiana Tech is one step closer to opening its new law school.

The Fort Wayne, Ind., university planned to break ground on May 18 on the $15 million, 70,000-square-foot building that will house its law school, which is projected to open in the fall of 2013.

Founding dean Peter Alexander, who served as dean of Southern Illinois University School of Law from 2003 to 2009, said the plans call for 100 students to enroll during the first year, with a five-student increase during each of the next four years. The school has yet to launch a formal recruiting push, he said, but he has made numerous visits around the Midwestern region from which the school expects to draw nearly all of its students.

In other news, Vivia Chen over at the Careerist blog reports that a mere 3.5 hours away from Fort Wayne via the interstate, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law is planning to cut the fall's incoming class by 30%.

Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law is joining the list of "rational" law schools that are cutting enrollment. The school's dean, Craig Boise, just announced that the school is cutting its incoming class by an impressive 30 percent! That's even more than UC-Hasting Law School, which recently announced a 20 percent reduction in its incoming class.

These are strange times indeed.

(jbl).