Alaska is the only state in the Union without a law school. In this presentation I argue that meaningful debate about whether an Alaska law school should be founded has been hampered by a narrow discussion of its merits, that is, "Do we need more lawyers here?" Who would ever answer, "Yes" to that? I argue that framing the debate too narrowly both undercounts (1) the benefits that a law school would bring as a public good and (2) overestimates the costs of its construction, and (3) omits completely large opportunity costs incurred every year by failing to build one.

1. The United States shall guarantee to every
State in this Union a Republican Form of
Government…..
ARTICLE IV, SECTION 4
Constitution of the United States
The Hidden Costs of Outsourcing:
Why Alaska Needs its Own Law School
Timothy R. Watts, J.D.
Instructor of Law & Justice

2. Before we begin—a little
disclaimer…
— Any statements made, views expressed, or opinions
given represent my personal views and opinions alone.
— None of these statements, views, or opinions given by
me (nor any of the information appearing on these
slides) are endorsed by, nor do they necessarily reflect,
the opinions of the University of Alaska, UAA, nor any
other colleges or organizations affiliated with these
institutions.

3. Re-introducing and Old
Debate
— Alaska is the only state in the U.S.
without its own law school.
— North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming
each have a law school and a lower
population.
— So why don’t we have one?
— Do you really want more lawyers
around?

4. Objections anyone?
— Lawyer A
— “I object—question is leading!”
— Lawyer B
— “I object too! Question has been asked
and answered!”
— Legal Scholar A: “Wait! Maybe we
should research this first…..”

5. Number of Active & Resident Lawyers
Per Capita by State
Light Green—fewer lawyers hanging around
Dark Green—more likely to find lawyers wherever you go…

6. Lawyers by State
(Data is as follows: State -- Population -- # of Lawyers -- # of Lawyers per 10,000 otherwise
normal residents)
1. D.C.
632,323
51,271
810.84
2. New York
9,570,261
163,798
83..7
3. Massachusetts 6,646,144
42,483
63.9
4. Connecticut
3,590,347
20,842
58.1
5. Illinois
12,875,255 60,069
46.6
6. New Jersey
8,864,590
40,997
46.2
7. Minnesota
5,379,139
23,774
44.2
8. California
38,041,430 159,824
42.0
9. Missouri
6,021,988 24,276
40.3
10. Colorado
5,187,582 20,768
11. Louisiana
12. Rhode Island
13 Pennsylvania
12,763,536
38.4
48,947
14 Maryland
5,884,563
22,477
38.2
15 Vermont
626,011
2,270
36.
16 Puerto Rico 3,706,690
13,282
35.8
17 Florida
66,556
34.5
18 Washington 6,897,012
23,741
34.4
19 Michigan
9,883,360
33,692
34.09
20 Oklahoma 3,814,820
12,978
34.0
40.0
21 Alaska
731,449
2,418
33.1
4,601,893 18,327
39.82
22 Ohio
11,544,225
37,745
32.7
1,050,292 4,060
38.66
23 Oregon
3,899,353
12,276
31.5
24 Delaware
917,092
2,853
31.1
19,317,568
Source: Lawyer Statistical Report & “Law School Tuition Bubble” Blog
http://lawschooltuitionbubble.wordpress.com/

7. Employed Lawyers by State
— 41
New Mexico
2,033,875
3,019
15.04
— 42
Michigan
9,931,235
14,790 14.86
— 43
Iowa
3,023,081
4,467
14.85
— 44
South Carolina 4,596,958
6,703
14.72
— 45
North Carolina 9,458,888
13,653 14.59
— 46
Indiana
6,445,295
9,249
14.41
— 47
Alaska
708,862
993
14.29
— 48
Wyoming
547,637
757
13.91
— 49
Oregon
3,855,536
5,049
13.21
— 50
Mississippi
2,960,467
3,770
12.78
— 51
Puerto Rico
3,721,978
3,949
10.56
Source: Lawyer Statistical Report & “Law School Tuition Bubble” Blog
http://lawschooltuitionbubble.wordpress.com/

8. “Idle” Attorneys by State
— 1 Puerto Rico
13,282 3,949 9,333 25.08 70.27%
— 2 Alaska
2,418 993
— 3 New York
157,778 66,695 91,083 46.52 57.73%
— 4 Oregon
11,766 5,049 6,717 17.42 57.09%
— 5 Michigan
32,731 14,790 17,941 18.07 54.81%
— 6 Connecticut
20,309 9,208 11,101 31.47 54.66%
1,425 20.10 58.93%
……
— 44 D.C.
49,207 41,669 7,538 123.45 15.32%
Source: Lawyer Statistical Report & “Law School Tuition Bubble” Blog http://lawschooltuitionbubble.wordpress.com/

9. Why so many “idle”
attorneys?
— When idle attorneys are excluded, Alaska has among the
fewest attorneys per capita in the U.S.
— With its relatively large proportion of governmental
employers, this result seems counterintuitive.
— There appears to be a high number of otherwise qualified
attorneys that do not practice.

10. A Law School as a Public Good
— Alaska appears to be singular in this respect—is has no
internally trained lawyers (focused on Alaska law), while still
having lawyers coming into the state but choosing other
work.
— Alaska’s prevailing rates cannot attract a sufficient number of
lawyers to practice.
— Does this relate to the failure to maintain a body of knowledge
dedicated to furthering and improving the practice of law and
judicial decision-making?
— Is the routine practice of law in Alaska weakened as a result of
the dearth of scholarship typically relied on by practitioners to
better use their time?
— Does the dearth of scholarship result in lower quality lawyering,
and as a result, judicial decision-making?

11. Ummm… Okay, you are trying to convince
me we need a law school, right?
Not just me:
Early this year, Rep. Scott Kawasaki (D–Fairbanks) introduced a bill, HB
43, to create the UA School of Medicine and the UA School of Law at the
Fairbanks and Anchorage campuses.
“Alaska needs more skilled professionals in medicine and law,”
Kawasaki explains. “The costs for medical and legal services will
only continue to grow unless Alaska makes changes today, and
preparing Alaskans to meet that demand and fill those highpaying jobs is a great first step.”
(I don’t think his bill has gone far…. But it keeps the discussion going.

12. We have been talking about this since
statehood—why now? Or ever?
— The questions of Alaska law and medical schools
keeps coming up.
— However, not only have Alaskans been considering
it—studies have been done on the question.
— Most recently by ISER
— Answer is always basically the same—we have
enough doctors and (especially) lawyers.

13. How Should Alaska Invest
is Citizens’ Money
— On higher education?
— On a law school?
— On a medical school?
— Is each question the same,
essentially, does supply meets
demand for graduates?

14. Depends on the purpose of
each…
— Do law schools and medical schools, for
example, serve different functions?
— Have we considered all the costs of
foregoing each of these?
— Is there any reason why we should approach
each question differently?

15. Beyond the Numbers: Our
State’s Duty to its Citizens
— Under our constitutionally guaranteed republican form of
government, each state has a duty to its citizens to assure that its
laws are studied and improved through scholarly works and the
teaching of law to its citizens who desire to learn it.
— Seen that way, Alaska should be among the first, rather than the
last, to recognize the importance that a law school has to the
furthering of its own state's law—given that it holds a unique
place in the United States.
— Alaskans deserve scholarly attention to the laws of their home
state law and the benefits that come from it.
— Any cost/benefit analysis that asks this larger question would return a
clear answer: built it—it has been too long in coming.
— The teaching and learning of Alaska law cannot and should not
outsourced. Nor should the standards to which it adheres.