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MC law school's new class largest ever
Despite all the lawyer jokes and tort reform, the Mississippi College School of Law is seeing record growth.
Law school enrollment often is a barometer of the economy, Associate Dean Phillip McIntosh said.
"We tend to do better when the economy is poor," McIntosh said. "We run counter to the economy." McIntosh said undergraduate students will enter the job market if the economy is doing well, but often will go to law school if they sense a slowdown in the economy.
The legal professional is looked upon as a secure profession, he said. // Begin popup script function NewPhotoWindow(mypage, myname, w, h, scroll) { var winl = (screen.width - w) / 2; var wint = (screen.height - h) / 2; winprops = 'height='+h+',width='+w+',top='+wint+',left='+winl+',scrollbars='+scroll+',resizable' win = window.open(mypage, myname, winprops) if (parseInt(navigator.appVersion) >= 4) { win.window.focus(); }} // End
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Joe Ellis/The Clarion-Ledger
Wes Shinn gives a lecture on secured transactions at the Mississippi College School of Law on Griffith Street in downtown Jackson. 
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Carter Dobbs, 25, a second-year student, said he is following in his father's footsteps. His father practices in Amory.
"I knew I was interested in the legal profession," Dobbs said. "It's something I want to do."
Dobbs said he plans to stay in Mississippi to practice law. But Dobbs said he hasn't decided whether to pursue criminal or civil practice.
"The school has done a good job of exposing us to both," Dobbs said of the two legal areas. Mississippi College's law school has its largest incoming class and will unveil its new 10,000-square-foot student and conference center Dec. 1.
The law school accepted 198 first-year students from about 1,300 applicants, McIntosh said.
This year's class topped last year's record of 182 students accepted. At the University of Mississippi, 189 people were accepted from 1,678 applicants. MC's law school has approximately 490 students overall. Included are five students from Louisiana who enrolled after Hurricane Katrina.
Although interest in law school is on the upswing, McIntosh said there is concern nationally that law school enrollment may have peaked. In Mississippi, McIntosh said legislation that put caps on most civil damage awards could cause a slowdown in hiring, which could impact those seeking legal careers.
But he said the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which is expected to produce a ton of legal action, could fuel hiring.
Stephen Rosenblatt, chairman of the state's largest law firm, Butler Snow, said the firm is "always looking for good quality law school students. ... Our recruitment is still strong." "We really hire about two years out," Rosenblatt said.
Rosenblatt said the firm, with more than 140 attorneys, also recruits students for its summer intern program, which can help them get their foot in the door. Rosenblatt, whose brother is dean of MC's School of Law, said the need for attorneys is constantly shifting.
Before tort reform led to caps on awards, litigation was the hot legal area, but that has subsided some now.
Either way, the law school will be prepared, with a state-of-the arts practice courtroom in the building. The building also will include a Children's Law Center, bookstore, food service, indoor and outdoor dining and space for students to use their laptops. |
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