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Wilkes University

May 8, 2008

Dean named for law school

Former Widener vice dean will develop legal ed. plan.

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – A ninth law school in Pennsylvania could be up and running in about two years at Wilkes University. On Wednesday, the school introduced the man who will lead efforts to bring the school to a reality.

Loren D. Prescott Jr. has been appointed dean for the Wilkes University Law School Planning Initiative, Wilkes Provost Reynold Verret announced. Prescott, 52, was vice dean and professor at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg. This would be Northeastern Pennsylvania’s first law school.

The Seattle native will work with a yet-unfilled advisory board to develop a plan to present to the board of trustees. The school could open as early as the fall of 2010, or the board could decide the plan isn’t feasible and halt plans.

Prescott said there are “plenty of hurdles,” but he didn’t take the job to submit a plan that will fail.

“This is going to be a very complicated initiative, but I intend to do it right and I intend to give them a plan that they can accept,” he said.

The region is ripe for a law school, he said.

The president of the Luzerne County Bar Association agreed.

“We look at it as an enhancement to our bar . . . We can’t see any downside to this program,” said Sheila L. Saidman.

The local bar association claims to be the fourth oldest in the United States, but the only one of the four without a law school within its midst.

Wilkes University President Tim Gilmour said the appointment of a dean is significant but made it clear this is a planning initiative.

“We still have many things to do in our community and with our board before we arrive at a final decision,” Gilmour said.

Among the things the advisory board and Prescott will look into are cost estimates for the program, deciding where the school would be located, and determining whether the interest is high enough to warrant such an endeavor.

As dean, Prescott will complete an in-depth market analysis of enrollment trends, the parameters for the law school library, and will develop a curriculum that answers many of the critiques of legal education today.

Preliminary plans call for enrolling between 80 and 100 first-year students in fall 2010. That would require a staff of about 22. Building options include using a new or existing building on campus or off-campus, but in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

Prescott and Gilmour said the idea of creating the region’s first law school is both exciting and difficult.

“Wilkes University enters legal education at an ideal time. Legal education can benefit from a new institution that is willing to do things differently in the interest of addressing the current needs of a profession and of 21st century law students,” Prescott said.

Saidman, who earned a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh, said too often students leave the region to go to law school and “never come back.”

Pa. law schools

There are seven accredited law schools in Pennsylvania: Duquesne, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Temple, Villanova, Widener, Drexel and Penn State Dickinson Law School.

Andrew M. Seder, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 570-829-7269.

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