Rutgers approves law schools merger
NEWARK – The Rutgers Board of Governors on Thursday approved the merger of the two Rutgers law schools into one unified law school with two distinct locations in Camden and Newark, contingent upon approval by the American Bar Association.
Poised to be a leader in legal education in the Northeast and among the nation's public law schools, Rutgers Law School will deliver a comprehensive curriculum enhanced by technology, offering exceptional breadth and depth in theory, practice and interdisciplinary courses; an alumni network spanning two of the five largest legal markets in the nation; a strong tradition of diversity and social impact; and a higher national profile to attract top students. An integrated Rutgers Law School would begin using a single application in the fall of 2015 for the 2016 entering class.
"This merger represents an unprecedented and ambitious play in legal education," Rutgers Law–Camden Acting Dean John Oberdiek said. "We believe strongly under this new model, that there are increased opportunities for students at each location to advance their career searches and to learn from a wider selection of world-class Rutgers faculty. Rutgers Law School will be greater than the sum of its parts and will strengthen the reputation of a Rutgers legal education."
Rutgers Law School will employ a robust faculty of 100 scholars, with particular strengths in criminal law, intellectual property, corporate and business law, health law and public interest law, all advancing a comprehensive curriculum facilitated by state-of-the-art technology. With more than 1,000 students drawn from across the country, Rutgers Law School also will be among the nation's largest law schools, yet it will boast a student-faculty ratio on par with other leading public law schools.
"Rutgers Law School will be uniquely situated to be able to draw upon the strengths and clarity of mission of Rutgers University-Newark, Rutgers University-Camden and the entire Rutgers system, to provide an exceptional legal education to our students, promote publicly engaged scholarship by which to use the law as an instrument of positive social change, and foster interdisciplinary collaboration with all our Rutgers colleagues," Acting Rutgers Law–Newark Dean Ronald K. Chen said. "At this defining moment for legal education and for the legal profession, the unification of Rutgers Law will enable us to advance all those goals with a new energy."
A concept to reunify — the schools were first separated into two Rutgers entities with their own accreditation, faculty and curricula in 1967 — was first introduced by law school leadership in 2011. Two co-deans, reporting to chancellors at each university in Camden and Newark, will lead the merged Rutgers Law School. The co-deans will maintain their individual lines of authority, reporting to the chancellor of Rutgers University-Newark or of Rutgers University-Camden. They will work with both chancellors and also work collaboratively with the university senior vice president for academic affairs.
Rutgers President Robert Barchi, who announced the plan for the law schools to merge in 2013, acknowledges this leadership structure to be fitting for the innovative plan, the first of its kind in recent history.
"For more than a century, Rutgers has delivered leading-edge legal education to New Jersey," Barchi said. "Within that context, it makes perfect sense that Rutgers is again at the forefront of innovative best practices by combining the unique strengths of our law schools in Newark and Camden into one school with an impressive range of opportunities for its students and a national profile that rests in the achievements of its faculty and its alumni. Rutgers University-Camden and Rutgers University-Newark will benefit from what we anticipate will be greater demand for a Rutgers Law degree."