U. of Delaware considers a new law school

The University of Delaware may add a new law school to its Newark campus, the school's Board of Trustees announced Tuesday.

The Trustees said they have commissioned a feasibility study which must be submitted to the American Bar Association for accreditation. The study will then be presented to the Board at its next meeting in May 2011. But the Board will not be asked to approve the new school until 2013, after proposals for curriculum, finances and operations are completed.

According to UD president Patrick D. Harker, the new school will be launched "only if we are convinced at that point that we can afford it, that we can contribute significantly to legal education nationally and that our University and our state will be stronger for the effort."

If the Board approves, the school would admit its first class of about 200 students in fall 2015, Harker said.

Despite being the nation's corporate law capital, Delaware if one of the few states without a law school at its flagship state institution.