ABSTRACT
One final consideration that explains the creation of at least some private law
schools and one or more public programs in the US is an institution’s sense of
mission. That is, the university starts a law school with the goal of turning out
lawyers who will bring a particular perspective or approach to their future practices.
As noted above, the University of St. Thomas expressed its reason for starting a law
school in terms of a sense of mission. Most other law schools that would fall in this
category are affiliated with religious movements or perspectives (Ave Maria Law
School, Regents University Law School, Liberty University School of Law). The
law school that was created in 1983 at the City University of New York had as its
goal producing public interest lawyers and the school still describes itself as the
“premier public interest law school in the country”. It may be the case that one or
more private law schools in other countries were also established as expressions of a
particular religious or political perspective.
