Since the announcement that Indiana Tech plans to launch a law school in Fort Wayne, I’ve received a great deal of positive feedback and encouragement.

I’ve also received comments that may be more stereotypical of attitudes toward the law profession.

“Do we really need more lawyers?” Or, “Does Indiana really need another law school?”

A little over a year ago I was asking myself the same questions. Initially, I was skeptical – and for multiple reasons. As with many ideas we come up with at Tech, we needed to explore the idea and analyze its validity.

We considered the obvious and the not so obvious. How many law schools are there in the United States? How many qualified students are not accepted to our local law schools? What is the long-term job trend for law school graduates? Will a law school in Fort Wayne serve the local economy? And be welcome and supported? Can Indiana Tech offer a law degree that is unique and demanded by future students? What are the financial implications?

Our feasibility study addressed these questions and many more.

We have four law schools in Indiana, and each serves law students quite well. Yet we know that many well-qualified prospective law students who apply to our law schools are not accepted.

Moreover, hundreds of students attend law school outside of our state, and a lesser number return to Indiana and take the bar exam to practice here.

We’ve learned that during prosperous economic periods the number of law positions increases substantially; the reverse is also true. Even so, the largest group of people ever to take the law school admissions test did so in 2009-10. More than 1,600 first-time test-takers who indicated Indiana as their permanent residence took the LSAT last year.

From a variety of sources we heard that a law school education provides significant benefits, among them the ability to think critically and develop problem-solving skills. We also learned that a substantial number of law school educators and practicing lawyers believe there are elements missing from law school education – skills and abilities that would better prepare graduates.

Examples include leadership, communication skills and practice management or greater depth in the area of law specialization such as intellectual property, international law or estate law.

Becoming a more comprehensive and regionally prominent small, private university is a long-standing goal for us at Indiana Tech. We see these as essential attributes needed to remain a vital contributor to our region and nation’s prosperity, and we have made great progress to date.

We believe this journey requires us to improve and enhance existing programs, develop new degree curricula and diversify educational delivery systems. Over the past five years we have added degrees in the areas of elementary education, criminal justice and energy engineering, among others. We believe with great conviction that our law school will add to the community and law education in many constructive ways.