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SLU Law moving downtown


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as a law school alum, this is reason to get excited. being dowtown seems to me like it could really be a nice opportunity. the courthouses will likely be utilized more often. fantastic social scene being downtown compared to undergrad campus. believe it or not it is safer. everyone i knew in law school had their car broken into.

my biggest concern has been mentioned above. that building needs lots of work. most lawschools are wireless in all classrooms, have courtrooms inside, have huge libraries, etc. and i just don't know if this kind of building can be turned into something like that. time will tell.

and, yes, father biondi does cut corners. see the current law school building which has been jerry-rigged about 5 times. the building alone causes people to choose wash u over slu.

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as someone who chose slu law over wash u, i can tell you that not much stock should be placed in the employment percentages or the rankings. 2 people with similar grades at each school will be viewed no differently when they interview at most firms in missouri. if you go outside of missouri, there's a difference in some places. and the 88% graduation rate is just a lie. i see resumes from unemployed wash u grads.

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as someone who chose slu law over wash u, i can tell you that not much stock should be placed in the employment percentages or the rankings. 2 people with similar grades at each school will be viewed no differently when they interview at most firms in missouri. if you go outside of missouri, there's a difference in some places. and the 88% graduation rate is just a lie. i see resumes from unemployed wash u grads.

+1

There is a lot of controversy in the way law schools are publishing their statistics these days.

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Over 15 years ago, I chose SLU Law over Wash U Law despite having a fairly generous scholarship offer from WU. At the time, WU law was in a crummy old building and the two schools were within 30 or 40-something spots in the ranking, not the 80+ that separates them today. For a kid who wanted to stay in the general area, the decision made sense back then, and I had many classmates who made the same one. I have no complaints about how my career has progressed and my decision panned out, but I am extremely frustrated about how my degree has devalued over time. While Wash U. made improving the prestige of the law school a priority, Biondi has made it a priority to milk the SLU law school for every last dollar of profit. In this time, Wash U has built two separate, gorgeous castle-like buildings for the law school and has built an asset in the Knight Center next door. Meanwhile, SLU remained in the ever-dated building. Wash U. has tightened up admission standards and increased scholarship grants even if it meant less short-term profit, while SLU law has become increasingly less-stringent in order to generate more revenue. Maybe this new building will be the turning point, but I suspect that as long as Biondi is in charge SLU will continue to run its law program into the ground in order to leverage the short-term bottom line. I shared these comments in a law alumni survey several years ago and never received any response.

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Over 15 years ago, I chose SLU Law over Wash U Law despite having a fairly generous scholarship offer from WU. At the time, WU law was in a crummy old building and the two schools were within 30 or 40-something spots in the ranking, not the 80+ that separates them today. For a kid who wanted to stay in the general area, the decision made sense back then, and I had many classmates who made the same one. I have no complaints about how my career has progressed and my decision panned out, but I am extremely frustrated about how my degree has devalued over time. While Wash U. made improving the prestige of the law school a priority, Biondi has made it a priority to milk the SLU law school for every last dollar of profit. In this time, Wash U has built two separate, gorgeous castle-like buildings for the law school and has built an asset in the Knight Center next door. Meanwhile, SLU remained in the ever-dated building. Wash U. has tightened up admission standards and increased scholarship grants even if it meant less short-term profit, while SLU law has become increasingly less-stringent in order to generate more revenue. Maybe this new building will be the turning point, but I suspect that as long as Biondi is in charge SLU will continue to run its law program into the ground in order to leverage the short-term bottom line. I shared these comments in a law alumni survey several years ago and never received any response.

This +10000.

I have made this point on this site once before and have made it to every person calling me for donations

SLU was ranked ~70 nationwide 5 or 6 years ago. We are now #99 tied with Mizzou.

I felt SLU would be ~50 by this time but we have gone in the opposite direction.

It makes no sense for a kid outside the Midwest to come to SLU now, unless you want to return to your city and explain to people that SLU is not 1) A state school and 2) Surrounded by farms. It makes little sense right now for a kid to choose SLU over Mizzou when you take into account $$ u will spend at SLU.

Hopefully this is corrected soon.

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  • 1 month later...

The move downtown is being postponed until 2013. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise given the amount of work that needs to be done.

Interesting:

SLU plans to raise the roof or add another story to the 11-story building at 100 N. Tucker Blvd. in order to build tiered classrooms and a mock courtroom on the top floor. A sprinkler system also needs to be installed throughout the building to comply with city codes, and the floor slated to house the law library rquires structural reinforcements.

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The move downtown is being postponed until 2013. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise given the amount of work that needs to be done.

Interesting:

I was skeptical that they would have it ready in time for this fall. Seemed like a very tall order, but 2013 would be a lot more realistic.

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The move downtown is being postponed until 2013. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise given the amount of work that needs to be done.

Interesting:

I think its for the best. I won't get to use it, but in the long-run it's better for them to take their time.

Apparently with the move officially announced, fundraising efforts have really picked up.

I know the architects are planning a lot of cool things for the new building. The longer they get to execute their plan, the better it is for the University.

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  • 4 months later...

SLU Law received a $1.1 million gift from the estate of Jack Pruellage, former managing partner at Lewis Rice.

http://www.slu.edu/x65839.xml

This is very meaningful. Jack was the chairman of LR for 20+ years. His posthumous commitment to the law school is a very strong endorsement of the move to downtown.

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This is way after our time, but the deco building that was converted to classroom space -- across from the old Warehouse of Fixtures-now lofts and Pickleman's -- is now Pruellage Hall.

I think Pruellage Hall is actually the residential building next to Marguerite Hall, the former Notre Dame Hall.

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Well that's interesting news. Hope you don't mind me commenting since I am a SLU Law Alum. I actually like what the law school had done with its space and the older building, but it certainly was limited.

I kind of enjoyed the law school being attached to the campus, but this location no doubt will have some advantages as well.

I wonder if this building though will help SLU recruit versus Wash U and Mizzou, both of which have very good law schools and both have good buildings on campus? Be curious what current and prospective students will have to say about that.

Nice try MUTGR boy but Washington University Law School is superior to Missouri's in ranking. Avg last 3-4 yrs 20th or so to 90th or so.

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Nice try MUTGR boy but Washington University Law School is superior to Missouri's in ranking. Avg last 3-4 yrs 20th or so to 90th or so.

Only point is SLU has as lot of competition in the area with very nice on campus buildings.

I still don't know if the new off campus building will be a positive or negative when recruiting a prospective law student to SLU vis a vis Washington U or Mizzou.

A lot of east coasters come here for Wash U and wouldn't consider SLU or Mizzou. But a lot of locals consider all three.

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I can't really see it being a negative.

Except the scenery may be a little worse.

But seriously, this is great for the University and attracting prospective students. The old building is old, cramped, and terribly designed. I'm extremely excited about the new building.

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As long as the new law school building comes out as well as the plans state, I would agree that it likely isn't a negative.

As some of you may know, I attend law school at SIU in Carbondale. A few years ago I might have viewed moving the law school away from the rest of the university as a negative, but now I see that differently. Most law students, unless they have a tie in to the university, aren't going to have much interest in associating with the rest of the university.

I've been in the current SLU law school building several times, and while I like the library, most of the rest of the building is largely unimpressive. As long as the new building looks good, it will be a benefit for the law school.

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I think this is a great thing for the law school, but what should happen to the former law school building? I know people all want something different. I think I should be converted into classrooms and offices for the humanities. Our business school and med school get so much attention (and rightfully so) but I would really like something done for the College of Arts & Sciences.

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I think this is a great thing for the law school, but what should happen to the former law school building? I know people all want something different. I think I should be converted into classrooms and offices for the humanities. Our business school and med school get so much attention (and rightfully so) but I would really like something done for the College of Arts & Sciences.

Just a hunch but I think your wish will come true. As a JCSB alum outside of Parks, B School, and Premed/Med the other schools could really use some upgrades (especially Ritter and Xavier). Also I know Pius is up for a major remodeling, not sure how the law school will play into this. I could see SLU using the law school library and class rooms as storage and extra study space while they go through the remodeling process of Pius.

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Just a hunch but I think your wish will come true. As a JCSB alum outside of Parks, B School, and Premed/Med the other schools could really use some upgrades (especially Ritter and Xavier). Also I know Pius is up for a major remodeling, not sure how the law school will play into this. I could see SLU using the law school library and class rooms as storage and extra study space while they go through the remodeling process of Pius.

- Yes the arts and sciences school needs a building to call home and the old law building would be great.

- the remodel of pius is nearly done. The university realllyyyy messed up the timing on that one. They redid the 4th and 5th floors first and finished them about a week before finals started. Instead of opening up 4/5 and waiting to start 2/3 they closed down 2/3 to start remodeling those. There was nowhere to study during finals and the electricity on4/5 also had not been set up set so if you had work to be done on a computer it could only be done in spurts at the library. Poorly thought out plan but the library looks much better inside.

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