Misericordia University announces new law program
Misericordia University announces new law program
LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Sounds of applause at the Luzerne County Courthouse followed the announcement of a new law school program.
"There's an absence of legal training in this area, so there's not a law school within two hours of us."
University officials say Misericordia School of Law will officially start in fall 2028 at what is currently the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus. Penn State has already announced plans to sell the campus to a developer, and Misericordia will lease space.
"You know, we can virtually walk in and start using it immediately. So we're very excited about that opportunity, that made a big difference for us," said Misericordia University President Dan Myers.
Tina Gartley is a judge in Luzerne County and graduated from Misericordia. She now sits on the university's board of trustees. She went to Syracuse University for law school but says if she could have stayed in the area, she would have.
"Absolutely. No one wants to leave Misericordia," she said. "I love Misericordia. "As I said, it was my beginning, it opened so many doors to me from educational, personal, developed my character, and if I could have stayed it would have been a lot easier than packing it up and going north."
"We'll also be able to do shortened programs where we combine the undergraduate and the law degree together," Myers said. "And so instead of taking 4 plus 3, we can set it up so we can do it in six years, three plus three, and they can kind of accelerate their progress into their profession, and we want to offer that to all of our schools around here," said Myers.
"This is an opportunity to not only retain the youth and the young adults here that we have and older adults with their career change, but to bring in new people who have not yet been exposed to this area," said Diana Schwartz, Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Speakers at the news conference say there is a need for a new law school in the region.
"Applications to law schools across the country have been surging over the last couple of years," said Myers.
"It will produce a great generation of new lawyers; we're really excited," said Judge Gartley.