SMU has long been recognized for its law school, even recently being ranked fourth among the Texas Bar Association’s top law schools. Now the school is taking a page from history and offering evening classes so that working people can pursue their goals for a new future without giving up their day jobs.
Beginning in the fall of 2004, SMU’s Dedman School of Law will begin offering evening law programs. SMU provided evening law classes from 1938 until 1969.
“I don’t know why it was stopped,” professor or law Linda Eads said. “It was really before my time, but we have some very distinguished alumni who received their degrees that way.”
Students enrolled in the evening program must complete 90 hours, just like day students. The course of study will take approximately four years to complete. Students in the evening program will take the same required courses as the day program. In addition, the evening program students will be offered a wide array of electives in such areas as tax and commercial law, intellectual property and corporate law. Exact times and some of the details are still in the planning stages. It is estimated that classes will begin about 5:30 p.m. and run until approximately 9:30 p.m.
To accommodate both programs, the Dedman School of Law will decrease enrollment in the day program from approximately 250 students to 175 students. The school anticipates that the evening program will enroll 80 to 90 students each year.
“We have a dedicated group of people here who are looking to the future needs of the community with this program,” Lynn Bozalis of the Law Admissions department said. “There are currently three day programs. This will be changed to two daytime programs and one evening program. After surveying the community and industry, this seems to be what the people want.”
According to a recent market study conducted by the law school, the demand for an evening program in the Dallas area is strong. In the space of two weeks, the study received more than 1,700 responses; 71 percent of the qualified respondents said they definitely or probably would apply for admission.
Most of the people who responded to the market study are currently in professional fields, 43 percent of the respondents have master’s degrees and 6 percent have doctorates. The most frequently cited careers were in human resources, financial services and health care. Other occupations listed were engineers, information technology specialists and paralegals.
“There’s a lot of talent out there that is not being tapped because people have obligations for the care of their families, but cannot get away for day classes,” Bozalis said. “This is not driven by economic need, we had a 48 percent increase in applications for the law school last year. The national rate increased 20 percent. We’re doing this because of the growing number of people around forty years or so of age who find that they want or need to find a new career. There are brilliant people out there who would be an asset to the law community, but just can’t get away.”
“The university and the law school are to be commended for reassessing how to offer legal education beyond the traditional model. There are not many schools that would be so adaptable to change,” Michael Boone, an SMU trustee and law alumnus said. Boone, also a founding partner with the firm Haynes & Boone L.L.P said, “This is a great step forward that will benefit the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.”
The Texas State Bar Association states on it’s Web page that the top nine of the 183 ABA approved law schools are in Texas. SMU is fourth on the list.
