A West Virginia state representative has sponsored a bill to create a second law school in the state, tentatively to be located at Marshall University. Mathew Rohrbach says another law school in the southern part of the state would fulfill an unmet need for prospective law students with non-traditional schedules.
“Probably more night and weekend classes than you would have in a traditional law school.” Rohrbach said. “It’s geared more at people in banking, insurance and mineral law.”
Other state reps aren’t so sure. Joey Garcia is a lawyer who graduated from West Virginia University College of Law, currently the state’s sole law school.
“The question is do we really need any more lawyers?” Garcia said. “I think if you went down the street and asked any person, they would say we’d probably need less. And, how is that going to affect the West Virginia University College of Law and what it does?”
Marshall’s communications director Leah Payne said the school has discussed adding a law school, but the bill was a surprise.
The bill is currently in the House Education Committee.
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Two students at Seattle University School of Law are making greats strides for nontraditional law students. Kelsey Jandoc and Onna Nwankwo have been running a podcast since 2022 called 2Legit that focuses on recognizing the myriad factors that make people feel marginalized during law school.
Both Jandoc and Nwankwo are first-generation law students and women of color and have used the podcast to cover a variety of topics, such as micro-aggressions, code-switching, impostor syndrome, preschool to prison pipeline, invisible disabilities, and “the older student.”
“Our goal for this platform is to encourage and to give those who are in law school, or those who are thinking about law school, some tips for navigating law school in a strategic way,” they said. “Our goal is to dispel the rumors that one must have a certain pedigree in order to excel in law or to even pursue law.”
The podcast regularly features guests from within the Seattle University Law community, but the conversation regularly branches far outside of that scope. Both hosts are currently third-year students in the school’s JD program. Jandoc founded her own marketing and business consulting firm and was a flight attendant for Hawaiian Airlines before attending law school. Nwankwo was a nurse who traveled to hospitals across the country to render aid.
The podcast is currently in its fourth season, and they plan to continue after graduation.
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Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law appointed David Gelfand to head up the school’s antitrust program. Gelfand’s role will be professor of practice and the Sims Chair in Competition Law and Regulation. The chair was recently established by Joe Sims, an ASU alum and a nationally renowned antitrust lawyer.
Gelfand has more than 30 years of experience and is one of the leading antitrust lawyers in the country.
“We are thrilled to bring Dave Gelfand onboard, and can’t wait to see the difference he will make in our antitrust offerings and the broader legal community,” said Adam Chodorow, ASU Law co-interim dean.
Public perception of tech companies’ growing market dominance has led to increased interest in antitrust legislation, both in the public at large as well as legislators. Gelfand is looking forward to help students become proficient in this specialized form of law practice.
“I am thrilled to be taking on my new responsibilities with ASU Law at a time when there is so much interest in antitrust,” Gelfand said. “Antitrust is going through a period of reexamination and debate, and the resulting policies will have an enormous impact on innovation, technology and U.S. industry. I look forward to teaching the next generation of antitrust leaders at ASU Law, as well as developing public-facing programs that contribute to this debate.”
