Section IV: Future Major Capital Projects Requiring Legislative Approval. Summary of Future Projects

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1 Section IV: Future Major Capital Projects Requiring Legislative Approval Summary of Future Projects PRIORITY _: RENOVATION AND ADDITION TO THE LAW SCHOOL 1. Overview APPENDIX: Educational Excellence at UND School of Law: Catching Up With Today s Needs and Sustaining Future Excellence Many associate the process of legal education with large classes taught in the traditional lecture style, with students as passive listeners requiring only a chair in order to learn. In the last fifteen years, however, legal education has changed dramatically in order to keep pace with the legal profession and the needs of people, communities, and economies. Law schools must emphasize skills instruction and practice, as well as ethics and professionalism, with academic programs built on experiential learning in both real world and simulation environments that replicate actual law practice conditions in a variety of settings. The American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar (ABA) is the accrediting body for law schools. The ABA s accreditation standards require law schools to provide students with substantial instruction not only in substantive law, but also in problem solving, written and oral communication, and professional skills, values, and responsibilities. The ABA standards also require that accredited law schools provide students with substantial opportunities for live-client and real-life practice experiences, pro bono activities (work done for the public good without compensation), and small group work. These standards require a range of curricular and co-curricular programs, including skills courses and instruction such as trial and appellate advocacy, alternative dispute resolution, counseling, interviewing, negotiating, problem solving, factual investigation, organization and management of legal work, and drafting; student-edited journals and skills competitions teams, such as moot court and trial teams; clinical legal education and externships; and pro bono programs. In the coming decades, legal education will continue to increase its emphasis on professional skills and values, with the goal of producing practice ready graduates who can provide competent, professional, and ethical legal services to clients and communities. This will include experiential learning in a broad array of real-life and simulated practice settings, iterated professional skills practice, collaborative work, interdisciplinary and inter-professional instruction, pro bono and public service, small class sizes and professional mentoring, and multiple teaching approaches enhanced by instructional technology. Page 1 of 16

2 Other professional schools, such as medicine, nursing, and engineering, are in the process of adopting similar curricular innovations that integrate knowledge, skills, and values. Just as we would expect a newly graduated nurse to know the way around an examination room and to have practiced procedures before seeing a patient, and just as we would expect a new surgeon to be familiar with an operating room and surgical tools and to have observed and participated in multiple operations before performing surgery, we of course should expect that a newly graduated attorney will know her way around a courtroom and a boardroom, have practiced interviewing, counseling, and negotiating, have observed and participated in multiple hearings and proceedings, be familiar with legal forms, filings, and processes, and know how to conduct herself as a legal professional in multiple settings. Producing practice ready graduates requires a facility that supports an integrated curriculum built on knowledge, skills, and values and that prepares students for competent and ethical representation of clients. The ABA s accreditation standards require a law school to have physical facilities that are adequate both for its current program of legal education and for changes anticipated in the immediate future. The ABA s standards require suitable space for professional skills courses and instruction, classrooms for seminars as well as large-enrollment courses, co-curricular programs such as student journals and competition teams, and quiet study and collaborative work. In recent years, the UND School of Law has changed our program of legal education to keep pace with best practices in legal education and a changing profession regionally and nationally. The School of Law faculty has adopted a curriculum mission statement that emphasizes cooperation and collaboration along with professional self-sufficiency in any practice setting, with the goal of producing well-rounded legal professionals with the necessary skill set to serve as effective, innovative, and ethical leaders in our local communities, state, region, and nation. The School of Law s curriculum currently includes Large-enrollment courses in primary areas of practice in North Dakota and nationally, including Contracts, Property, Torts, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Civil Procedure, Evidence, Professional Responsibility, Sales, Business Associations, Family Law, Bankruptcy, Trusts & Estates, etc. A broad range of mid-sized classes that cover topics that are common areas of practice and specialization in our state and region, including Agricultural Law, Oil & Gas Law, Administrative Law, Remedies, Secured Transactions, Administrative Law, Energy Law, Conflict of Laws, Federal Indian Law, Mineral Taxation, Criminal Procedure, Intellectual Property, Modern Real Estate, Advanced Civil Litigation, State & Local Taxation, Commercial Paper, Legislation, Labor & Employment Law, Poverty Law, Insurance Law, Military Law, Advanced Commercial Transactions, Intellectual Property, Consumer Protection Law, etc. Seminar and collaborative courses in which students engage in group work, discussion, oral and written communication exercises, and skills practice, Page 2 of 16

3 including Alternative Dispute Resolution, Oil & Gas Practice in North Dakota, Tribal Economic Development, Externship Class, Advanced Legal Research, International Human Rights, Comparative Law, Employment Discrimination, Domestic Violence, Criminal Sentencing, Estate Planning, Corporation & Partnership Taxation, Federal Courts, Professional Visions, International Business Transactions, International Legal Research, Tribal Environmental Law, Immigration Law, Critical Legal Studies, Solo and Small Firm Law Practice Management, etc. A growing set of skills-intensive courses and programs in which students represent clients, argue motions, draft pleadings and contracts, interview witnesses, negotiate deals, etc., including Clinical Legal Education Program, Pretrial Practice, Advanced Appellate Advocacy, Trial Advocacy, Advanced Trial Advocacy/Trial Team, Criminal Trial Advocacy, First-Year Moot Court Festival, Internal Moot Court Competition, Regional and National Moot Court Competitions, Carrigan Cup Mock Trial Competition, etc. While we have made significant improvements to our curriculum in recent years (and will continue to do so), we have exhausted our ability to improve our physical facility. We are increasingly unsuccessful in our efforts to effectively offer the array of courses and programs described above to some 250 students, with just four classrooms and extremely limited student study and workspace. Improvements in our educational program have far outpaced improvements in our educational space. The School of Law has, quite simply, outgrown its facility. In 2007, the UND School of Law s ABA reaccreditation site visit report found the School of Law s physical facility to be less than adequate and characterized a major addition to and renovation of the existing law school building as critical to the success and future of the School of Law. Specifically, the site visit report found Two classrooms were described as barely adequate for the purposes used and lacking comprehensive modern technology. (The other two classrooms, both large lecture-style rooms, were extensively renovated with private funding in 2006 and 2010.) Student co-curricular space was described as small and not optimal; student organization and workspace was described as limited and less than adequate. Clinic space was described as cramped, substandard, and barely adequate for current needs ; the report found that the clinic cannot operate in its current state at desired or superior levels. In the five years since the 2007 ABA reaccreditation site visit, changes to our program of legal education, sustained levels of student recruitment and retention, and expanded curricular and co-curricular programs have exacerbated existing conditions and shifted larger portions of our facility from barely adequate to inadequate. For example The 2007 site visit report found the number of our classrooms minimally adequate, but also stated that the number did not allow for convenient scheduling of course offerings. With successful efforts to retain all of the students we admit, and with expanded course offerings (recent additions to our curriculum include Page 3 of 16

4 Oil & Gas, Advanced Appellate Advocacy, Oil & Gas Practice in North Dakota, Solo and Small Law Firm Management, Mineral Taxation, and Tribal Economic Development, just to name a few new courses), the number of classrooms is no longer adequate to support the current program of legal education. The number and size of our classrooms drive our class schedule more than student or curricular interests do for example, we are unable to fulfill student requests that certain courses not be scheduled against each other, and available classrooms limit offering both large-enrollment and small-section courses. Expansion of co-curricular programs since 2007 to include a second studentedited journal, an internal trial competition (the Carrigan Cup), and annual regional and national skills competitions (Advanced Trial Advocacy/Trial Team and Regional and National Moot Court Competition Teams), has made existing space inadequate for these programs and the students involved in them. Expansion of experiential learning programs has exacerbated limited skills practice space, including aggravating the limitations of the existing clinic space and making available teaching courtroom space inadequate to support current skills courses and instruction. Efforts to arrange classrooms to accommodate large enrollments and to squeeze multiple functions into existing student work and study space has compromised student accessibility. The UND School of Law has stretched its current facility to its maximum capacity and our program of legal education simply has outgrown our physical facility. To achieve our mission of educating effective and ethical legal professionals and leaders, the School of Law s physical facility must grow and evolve to catch up with our current educational program and to sustain a high-quality law school for North Dakota. These needs those required for the School of Law s next reaccreditation visit in Spring 2014 and those that will support an excellent program of legal education in North Dakota for the next several decades overlap both in terms of efficient planning and efficient implementation. The justifications for the School of Law s project are distinguished, as much as possible, between those necessary to ensure reaccreditation in 2014 (the immediate catch up needs and justifications, as well as needs related to safety and security, and the basis for the University s request for $4,250,000 in appropriations for required renovations) and those that will sustain excellence through future years and reaccreditation visits over the reasonable lifespan of the proposed addition and renovation (the collaborative component of the needs and justifications, and the basis for the University s request for $100,000 to conduct a comprehensive study). Practically speaking, efficiency considerations demand a single major capital construction project. Not all of the catch up needs can be effectively or efficiently met through a single, pared-down addition, and opportunities for cost-effective renovations or multi-purposed space that would serve future needs and allow expanded services to North Dakota s people, communities, and economy may be delayed or lost. Neither the project nor the School of Law s needs appropriately lend themselves to separate construction projects. Instead, we have developed an overall project concept and preliminary plan that Page 4 of 16

5 will use existing, renovated, and newly constructed space as efficiently and effectively as possible through a single construction project. Splitting the project apart would increase costs related to construction and infrastructure, would compromise sound and efficient space planning, and would require two periods of disruption and relocation of law school operations. Mindful of practicalities and the demands on state appropriations, however, we have identified the most urgent needs that can be addressed through immediate renovations, as detailed in the Summary of Future Projects description of the Renovation of the Law School. The requested study funds will allow the School of Law to undertake the full project, necessary to meet remaining immediate needs and to sustain excellence into the future, with the careful planning that will ensure an efficient and cost-effective project. In this Appendix, which describes the overall project concept and preliminary plan, the sections below separate, to the extent possible, the project justifications necessary to ensure reaccreditation in 2014 and to sustain excellence through future years and reaccreditation visits over the reasonable lifespan of the proposed addition and renovation. The project concept and preliminary plan also separates, to the extent possible, the costs and funding sources to support the respective justifications. For the catch up justifications and needs, we seek state funding to ensure that the School of Law s physical facility is minimally adequate to support the current program of legal education. For the justifications and needs necessary to ensure and sustain a high-quality law school for North Dakota now and for decades to come, we propose a collaborative private/state partnership that will fund the remainder of the project s costs through state appropriation of matching funds. In total, and consistent with prior iterations of this proposed project in the 2011 and 2009 legislative sessions, the School of Law s full project as conceived under this overall project concept and preliminary plan, would seek approximately $10 million in state funding. As noted above, however, the University s current request seeks state appropriations for immediate renovations to address as many urgent needs as can be resolved through renovation, and study funds to support careful planning of the remainder of the overall project. 2. Urgent Catch Up Needs & Justifications Related to Accreditation The UND School of Law requests state funding for the portions of the capital construction project that are necessary to meet ABA accreditation standards for the Spring 2014 site visit and to adequately serve the current educational program. These justifications stem from the need for the School of Law physical facility to catch up with increased and stabilized enrollment, enhanced and expanded academic and student programs, and, most important, ABA accreditation standards. The space needs and utilization to meet these urgent needs are described in detail below. The descriptions also indicate how meeting these urgent needs create practical opportunities to further improve the School of Law physical facility for the future through efficient and sound planning. As part of an overall project that involves both renovation and a building addition, the estimated costs to fully meet the School of Law s Page 5 of 16

6 urgent needs while at the same time maximizing opportunities for cost-effectiveness and efficiency are $4 million. Two additional classrooms with full technology for class sizes of and tailored to facilitate discussion-based, seminar, and skills courses. The School of Law s four existing classrooms are insufficient to serve 250 students and our program of legal education. We have made as many improvements to existing classrooms as feasible with private funding; we simply need additional classroom space in order to accommodate our current curriculum. The two large classrooms, the Molbert Room and the Swanke Family Room, both extensively renovated with private funding, are state-of-the-art. Our other two classrooms were described as barely adequate and lacking comprehensive modern technology in the 2007 ABA site visit report. ABA Standard 701: A law school shall have physical facilities that are adequate both for its current program of legal education and for growth anticipated in the immediate future. Interpretation 701-1: Inadequate facilities negatively affect the educational experience of students. Both faculty and students consistently complain about the lack of availability of classrooms appropriate for seminar and discussion-based courses. Our two mid-sized classrooms, Rooms 103 and 212, were described in the 2007 site visit report as barely adequate for the purposes used. Interpretation 701-1: Inadequate facilities fail to provide reasonable access for persons with disabilities. The necessity of setting up Rooms 103 and 212 with lecture-style seating to meet course enrollment demands has compromised our ability to maintain ADA compliance. Interpretation 701-2(1): Adequate facilities must include suitable class and seminar rooms in sufficient number and size to permit reasonable scheduling of all classes and seminars. The 2007 site visit report found the number of our classrooms minimally adequate, but also stated that the number did not allow for convenient scheduling of course offerings at that time. Since then, the situation has been aggravated to the extent that the number and size of our classrooms drive our class schedule more than student interests or curricular needs do for example, we are unable to fulfill student requests that certain courses not be scheduled against each other, and available classrooms limit offering both large-enrollment and small-section courses. Student study and collaborative workspace for individual and group study and class assignments, and co-curricular and extra-curricular student organizations. Our current space available to students does not meet existing needs, such as o Student study space, including space for quiet study and for group study o Student skills practice space (i.e., for students to practice trial, appellate advocacy, counseling, and negotiation skills) o Group assignments that students must complete outside of class o Student-edited journals our second student journal, the Journal of Law & Interdisciplinary Studies, has no dedicated space o Student-run competitions our student Moot Court Board and its work has outgrown current space Page 6 of 16

7 o Student governance the Student Bar Association is responsible for facilitating student participation in School of Law governance, but does not have any dedicated space for its board o Student organizations the School of Law is home to numerous studentrun organizations, many of which have been recognized by UND for outstanding leadership; we currently have one medium-size room available for 16 student organizations, so that some student organizations don t even have a desk or filing cabinet available to them ABA Standard 701: A law school shall have physical facilities that are adequate both for its current program of legal education and for growth anticipated in the immediate future. Interpretation 701-2(2): Adequate facilities must include suitable space for conducting its professional skills courses and programs. The School of Law now offers Pretrial Practice, Advanced Appellate Advocacy, Trial Advocacy, Advanced Trial Advocacy/Trial Team, Criminal Trial Advocacy, Clinical Legal Education Program, First-Year Moot Court Festival, Internal Moot Court Competition, Regional and National Moot Court Competitions, Carrigan Cup Mock Trial Competition, Student Trial Lawyers Association, and a number of courses that include skills instruction and exercises related to client interviewing and counseling, negotiation, dispute resolution, witness interviewing, conducting depositions, etc. Our existing classroom and student work space has required us to schedule student skills practice sessions at night and on both Saturday and Sunday, as well as off-site, and much of the space we have to use simply isn t suited to skills practice or instruction. Interpretation 701-2(4): Adequate facilities must include space for co-curricular activities. Our co-curricular activities include our student-edited North Dakota Law Review, and our student-coordinated Internal Moot Court Competition, Regional and National Moot Court Competitions, and Carrigan Cup Mock Trial Competition. Among them, these co-curricular activities have available to them one large room (used by the North Dakota Law Review and shared by law school staff) and one small office (approximately 300 square feet for a 5-student Moot Court Board that coordinates more than a half-dozen competitions). The 2007 site visit report found these spaces to be small and not optimal. Adding new journals (as the School of Law did in 2011) without assigning dedicated space risks a finding of noncompliance with this standard. Additionally, the School of Law is considering making our Student Bar Association, with its responsibilities related to law school governance, a co-curricular activity. Current space does not support the students best work in these critical and high-profile co-curricular programs. The School of Law s extra-curricular student organizations, which number 12 to 18 in any given year, share a single large office. This space was described in the 2007 site visit report as limited and less than adequate. ABA Standard 702: The physical facilities for the law library shall be sufficient in size, location, and design in relation to the law school s programs and enrollment to accommodate the law school s students and faculty and the law library s services, collections, staff, operations, and equipment. Page 7 of 16

8 Interpretation 702-1: The law library must have sufficient seating to meet the needs of the law school s students and faculty. The library s seating was deemed adequate, with seating for 210, in the 2007 site visit report. Now, our increased and stabilized enrollment has brought our student body size to approximately 250. The five group study rooms in the library are insufficient to support student group study and work, in part because they must be used for staff and faculty committee meetings and other academic and professional programming as well due to inadequate space in other areas of the building. ABA Standard 703: A law school shall provide, on site, sufficient quiet study and research seating for its students and faculty. A law school should provide space that is suitable for group study and other forms of collaborative work. The 2007 site visit report noted that students complain about the noise level in the law library caused by the north wall windows and ventilation. It also found study space outside of the library to be sufficient, if not abundant. This finding relied in part on the availability of classroom space to students when the rooms are not in use. Our current schedule requires that all four classrooms are in near constant use during business hours and into the evening, and we have all but ceased making classroom space available to students after hours because of security concerns. With less availability of classrooms as study space, our increased student body size, and curricular emphasis on collaborative work and skills practice, this has become a more pressing issue than the 2007 site visit report reflects. Amelioration of security and safety concerns in law school and law library. Because the law library lacks restrooms, access to the main law school building cannot be closed during the library s public hours (the library is open 7 days a week, typically until 11 pm). Our efforts to maximize student study and gathering space in the building has compromised access to emergency exits, and created challenges in ensuring that classrooms are locked after students leave. We have experienced multiple thefts of student and law school property, as well as potentially dangerous situations. The Clinical Legal Education Program offices do not have a separate public entrance nor an exit into the law school in order to ensure student and staff safety and client confidentiality. Renovation and expansion of experiential learning space, particularly in the Clinical Legal Education Program suite. The 2007 ABA site evaluation report described the Clinic space as cramped, substandard, and barely adequate. As our curriculum has expanded (and will continue to expand) experiential learning and skills instruction, we need sufficient space that accommodates and facilitates experiential learning. ABA Standard 701: A law school shall have physical facilities that are adequate both for its current program of legal education and for growth anticipated in the immediate future. Interpretation 701-2(2): Adequate facilities must include suitable space for conducting its professional skills courses and programs, including clinical, pretrial, trial, and appellate programs. The 2007 site visit report found our Clinical Legal Education Program office space very cramped, stating that it is Page 8 of 16

9 evident that the clinic s offices were designed and built in a makeshift manner. The 2007 site visit report concluded that the Clinical Legal Education Program office space is barely adequate for current needs and cannot operate in its current state at desired or superior levels. The clinic space also lacks room for secure storage of confidential client files and, as noted above, appropriate entrances and exits for safety and security. In addition to needs related to the clinic space, the expansion of our other skills programs, including offering a larger number of externships and internships, requires space that supports experiential learning. Immediate needs include renovated Clinical Legal Education Program office space and expanded experiential learning space (including the student skills practice space noted above). How the project will accomplish these urgent catch up needs with maximally efficient use of the existing facility and new construction, and therefore state resources, and what this space will look like: Classrooms: Six classrooms, the minimum required by our current curriculum o 2 large classrooms that can seat up to 90 students current space fulfills this need through the Molbert Room (Room 211) and the Swanke Family Room (Room 8). These are utilized for nearly all first-year classes, as well as large-enrollment classes, including Evidence, Professional Responsibility, Sales, Business Associations, Family Law, Indian Child Welfare Act, Bankruptcy, Trusts & Estates, Criminal Jurisdiction in Indian Country, etc. o 2 mid-sized classrooms that can seat 25 to 40 students in a flexible lecturestyle format these need to be added through new construction, as we are currently squeezing these numbers of students into inadequate space in Rooms 103 and 212. These will be used for the small sections of our firstyear Lawyering Skills courses and the majority of our upper-level courses, including Agricultural Law, Oil & Gas, Administrative Law, Remedies, Secured Transactions, Administrative Law, Energy Law, Conflict of Laws, Federal Indian Law, Mineral Taxation, Criminal Procedure, Intellectual Property, Modern Real Estate, Advanced Civil Litigation, State & Local Taxation, Commercial Paper, Legislation, Labor & Employment Law, Poverty Law, Insurance Law, Military Law, Advanced Commercial Transactions, Intellectual Property, Consumer Protection Law, etc. The furnishings in these rooms should allow enough flexibility for students to engage in group exercises and skills practice. o 2 seminar classrooms that can seat 15 to 25 students in a discussion-style format these can be achieved through renovation of existing space, perhaps by renovating current Room 103 and vacated student co-curricular and student organization space (as noted below), both of which have square footage better suited to a smaller number of students than present use. These seminar classrooms will be used for discussion-based and skills courses that require student interaction and collaboration, such as Alternative Dispute Resolution, Oil & Gas Practice in North Dakota, Page 9 of 16

10 Tribal Economic Development, Externship Class Component, Advanced Legal Research, International Human Rights, Comparative Law, Employment Discrimination, Domestic Violence, Criminal Sentencing, Estate Planning, Corporation & Partnership Taxation, Federal Courts, Professional Visions, International Business Transactions, International Legal Research, Tribal Environmental Law, Immigration Law, Critical Legal Studies, Solo and Small Firm Law Practice Management, etc. The furnishings in these rooms should be easily moveable to allow multiple configurations tailored to the teaching and learning in each course. Student study and collaborative work space for (1) co-curricular programs student-run journals and Moot Court Board/skills competitions office, that includes appropriate work and storage space; (2) student government and organizations a large student organizations room to accommodate 15 to 20 active student organizations as well as Student Bar Association; (3) student commons area appropriate for group study, work, and gathering; (4) student study/meeting rooms appropriate for small group studying, collaborative course work, group meetings with faculty, student organization meetings, Academic Success tutoring, etc. These spaces and uses likely require construction of new space and/or renovation of current law library space, as there simply is not sufficient available square footage in the law school building to accommodate these needs. Moving these functions to new and/or renovated law library space would free up some modest space within the law school building: the current Law Review, Moot Court Board, and student organization spaces, and the small student lounge/kitchenette (which was described as small with old furnishings in the 2007 site visit report). o Current Moot Court Board office and Student Organization office could be remodeled into a state-of-the-art seminar classroom, freeing Room 212 for modest renovation to an appellate teaching courtroom, for use by first-year Lawyering Skills courses, Internal Moot Court Competition, Regional and National Moot Court Competitions, Advanced Appellate Advocacy course, Pretrial Advocacy course, and student skills practice. o Current Student Lounge could be remodeled to add space to Clinic office suite, with accompanying full remodel of Clinic space expanded student office space, and a new state-of-the-art and secure seminar classroom/conference room tailored to experiential learning and skills courses, with technology that allows for video-recording of student skills performance and critique, for use in Clinical Legal Education Program, Externship Programs, Pro Bono Program (in which students provide research assistance to attorneys working on reduced- or no-fee cases through the State Bar Association of North Dakota s Volunteer Attorney Program and Legal Services of North Dakota), and other experiential learning programs and skills courses. o Law review office could be remodeled to expand Student Life Office, including providing appropriate office space for Student Life staff as well as Career Services and Professional Success programming space, Page 10 of 16

11 interviewing rooms for students to meet with employers, and multipurpose space that could also be used for student study. This would improve the layout of administrative student services, which the 2007 site visit report described as sandwiched in areas too small for the functions and constituents served. Amelioration of security and safety concerns: o Construction of restrooms in law library to allow law school classrooms and offices to be closed from public outside of business hours o Upgraded security, including installing keycard entrances and closing off law library from main law school building o Renovated Clinical Legal Education Program offices to allow a safe exit for staff and students from clinic o Construction of separate public entrances for law library and Clinical Legal Education Program to allow law school building to be secure and to enhance ease of public access to these functions The result of this investment of state dollars will mean that the School of Law will have these urgent improvements underway by the time of the Spring 2014 ABA reaccreditation site visit: o At least six classrooms to serve our 250 students, all with modern technology: 2 seminar rooms, for students 2 mid-sized classrooms, for students 2 large classrooms, for up to 90 students (Molbert & Swanke Family Rooms) o Expanded student study and work space, to support student success in our curriculum, student leadership, and student contributions to the legal profession o Improved and enhanced Clinic/experiential learning suite to support increased skills instruction and practice ready graduates o Improved and enhanced Student Life offices to support student success, including career services, debt management counseling, and professional development for students o A safe and secure learning and work environment These changes to address the School of Law s urgent catch up needs will ensure that the law school building meets the ABA s standard of physical facilities that are adequate for the School of Law s current program of legal education, and will allow the School of Law to maintain current levels of excellence in our educational program. 3. Sustaining Future Excellence and Ensuring Efficient and Cost-Effective Planning and Construction The needs and justifications described in this section are necessary to sustain excellence through future years and reaccreditation visits over the reasonable lifespan of the Page 11 of 16

12 proposed addition and renovation, and will create a facility that can support future growth, increased service to the state, and a continually improving program of legal education. For these justifications and needs, necessary to ensure and sustain a high-quality law school for North Dakota now and for decades to come, we propose a collaborative private/state partnership that will fund the remainder of the costs through state appropriation of matching funds, specifically a 75/25 state/private match. As part of an overall project that involves both renovation and a building addition, the funding goal as currently conceived would be $8 million (a commitment of $6 million by the state to facilitate private giving of $2 million). As noted above, however, the University s current request seeks state appropriations for immediate renovations to address as many urgent needs as can be resolved through renovation, and study funds to support careful planning of the remainder of the overall project. As serves these needs, the overall project will ensure compliance of the School of Law s physical facility with the ABA accreditation standards for programs of legal education, based on the current curriculum, programs, and size, as well as on anticipated changes in the immediate future and reasonably predictable changes in the next several decades, taking into account ABA accreditation standards, trends in legal education and the legal profession, and the needs of North Dakota people, communities, and economies. The general ABA accreditation standards for programs of legal education include Standard 301(a): A law school shall maintain an educational program that prepares its students for admission to the bar, and effective and responsible participation in the legal profession ; Standard 302(a): A law school shall require that each student receive substantial instruction in (1) the substantive law... ; (2) legal analysis and reasoning, legal research, problem solving, and oral communication; (3) writing in a legal context... ; (4) other professional skills... ; and (5) the history, goals, structure, values, rules, and responsibilities of the legal profession.... ; and Standard 302(b): A law school shall offer substantial opportunities for (1) live-client or other real-life practice experiences... ; (2) student participation in pro bono activities; and (3) small group work through seminars, directed research, small classes, or collaborative work. As relates to the proposed overall project, these standards require opportunities for regular interaction between students and faculty (Interpretation 301-4); co-curricular programs such as student-edited journals and skills competition teams (Interpretation 301-4); special events such as lecture series (Interpretation 301-4); skills courses and instruction, including trial and appellate advocacy, alternative dispute resolution, counseling, interviewing, negotiating, problem solving, factual investigation, organization and management of legal work, and drafting (Interpretation 302-2); clinics and externships (Interpretation 302-5); involvement of attorneys and judges (Interpretation 302-6); and pro bono programs (Interpretation ). The future of legal education will bring increased emphasis on skills courses and instruction, collaborative work, experiential learning in real-life and simulated practice experiences, interdisciplinary work, inter-professional education, pro bono and public Page 12 of 16

13 service, small class sizes, and multiple teaching approaches including emphasis on instructional technologies. The future of the legal profession will require graduates to be prepared to enter increasingly sophisticated practice areas, with likely emphasis on commoditization through technology, distance delivery of legal services, globalization, inter- and paraprofessional practices, holistic services, pro bono and affordable services, and specializations related to economic development and social sustainability. In North Dakota, the needs of our people, communities, and economies will include accessible and affordable delivery of legal services to rural areas and underserved populations, facilitating sustainable economic growth and supporting the state s industries, ensuring meaningful access to courts and justice systems, contributing to the public sector through effective criminal justice, civil regulation, and service delivery, contributing to the non-profit sector to provide social services, emergency services and disaster relief, and public assistance. For example, the legal needs related to the flooding in Minot, challenges of effective law enforcement in the Williston area, the attorney shortage in western North Dakota, the inaccessibility of legal services in rural areas without local attorneys, courts, or government offices, the need for infrastructure and public services to keep pace with population growth and displacement, housing shortages all of these current needs require the contributions of a high-quality program of legal education that produces competent and ethical graduates and a School of Law that has the capacity to increase its direct and indirect service to North Dakota. Meeting the needs in this collaborative component of the project will allow the School of Law to continue to meet ABA Standards for legal education while sustaining educational excellence that is pertinent to North Dakota and our region. It will ensure that North Dakota s law school continues to attract and retain highly qualified students, staff, and faculty, all of whom directly and indirectly serve our state. It will allow us to develop programs that address the state s most pressing challenges, such as supporting distance delivery of legal services to western North Dakota, increasing expertise and resources related to the oil industry, and increasing the affordability of legal services by supporting solo and small firm practitioners. How the project will accomplish these needs in order to sustain future excellence with maximally efficient use of the existing facility and new construction, and therefore state resources, and what this space will look like: An addition on the north side of the building will allow us to Solve the noise abatement problem caused by the law library s north wall of windows and ventilation system Add classroom space tailored to skills instruction, such as small interview rooms (that could double as campus interview rooms for employers, or for-rent work space for practicing attorneys, or teaching space for on-line courses) suitable for naming opportunities Add a third mid-size classroom to accommodate possible growth in enrollment and/or academic programs that is tailored to distance learning suitable for naming opportunities Page 13 of 16

14 Renovate and expand Baker Courtroom to provide large lecture hall/court room/chambers for 200+ that would provide a state-of-the-art teaching courtroom and be usable by state, federal, and tribal courts and agencies suitable for naming opportunities Add faculty and staff offices and work space as necessary Add space, possibly in collaboration with the Chester Fritz Library, reserved for graduate and professional students to support interdisciplinary and interprofessional programs suitable for naming opportunities Interdisciplinary center space, with focus on legal and policy issues facing North Dakota and our region suitable for naming opportunities Renovation of the existing building will allow us to Revision the law library with eye toward law library of future, including revising delivery of resources and creating enhanced collaborative work space for students, staff, and faculty, with planning that allows for future evolution of usage Strategically locate administrative and student services offices and improve wayfinding for students, prospective students, and visitors Expand student and public services Create green and energy-saving improvements The result of this investment of state funds will mean that the School of Law will be able to raise sufficient private funding, in partnership with the state, to have these improvements and enhancements to carry our program of legal education through the next several decades: Classrooms and educational space that support innovative curricular changes, including enhanced skills training, collaborative and group work, experiential learning, online legal education, and interdisciplinary and inter-professional instruction, etc. Expanded services to North Dakota, including support for legal services in rural areas, innovative research and service in areas such as energy, partnerships with the practicing bench and bar, etc. An educational program, services, and facility that enhance the law school s ability to attract and retain highly qualified students, staff, and faculty These changes to sustain excellence and to maximize cost-effectiveness and efficiency will ensure that North Dakota has an excellent law school for the next quarter century and beyond, fully and efficiently utilizing the project s addition and renovation throughout its expected lifespan. 4. Summary The UND School of Law has made significant improvements to its curriculum in recent years (and will continue to do so), and has grown to a sustainable enrollment of approximately 250 students. At the same time, the School of Law has exhausted efforts to improve the physical facility without additional space. The School of Law has, quite simply, outgrown its facility. Page 14 of 16

15 In 2007, the UND School of Law s ABA reaccreditation site visit report found the School of Law s physical facility to be less than adequate and characterized an addition to and renovation of the existing law school building as critical to the success and future of the School of Law. Growth and enhancement of educational programs, student services, and student activities in the past five years have exacerbated the limitations and inadequacies found in the 2007 site visit report. The overall project concept and preliminary planning envisions a major capital construction project that will address the urgent needs related to the School of Law s next reaccreditation visit in Spring 2014 and will efficiently and cost-effectively ensure a facility that will support an excellent program of legal education in North Dakota for the next several decades. Mindful of practicalities and the demands on state appropriations, however, we have identified the most urgent needs that can be addressed through immediate renovations, as detailed in the Summary of Future Projects description of the Renovation of the Law School. The requested study funds will allow the School of Law to undertake the full project, necessary to meet remaining immediate needs and to sustain excellence into the future, with the careful planning that will ensure an efficient and costeffective project. Note that having this project approved in time for the Spring 2014 ABA reaccreditation site visit will indicate to the site visit team that the UND School of Law will have recommended improvements underway, a factor that is crucial to ensuring reaccreditation of the School of Law. The full project will Expand educational space to include: o 2 seminar rooms, for students (renovated 103 and student space) o 3 mid-sized classrooms, for students (addition) o 2 large classrooms, for up to 90 students (existing Molbert & Swanke Family Rooms) o Large lecture hall/court room/chambers (renovated Baker Courtroom) o Improved and enhanced Clinic/experiential learning suite (renovated student space) o Classroom space tailored to skills instruction, including small interview rooms (addition) and small teaching courtroom (renovated 212) Expand student study and work space (addition and/or library renovation) Improve and enhance student service space (renovation) Ensure a safe and secure learning and work environment (addition and renovation) Solve the noise abatement problem caused by the law library s north wall of windows (addition) Create space that facilitates services to meet the needs of North Dakota s people, communities, and economies (addition and renovation) Page 15 of 16

16 Revision the law library with eye toward law library of future, including revising delivery of resources and creating enhanced collaborative work space for students, staff, and faculty (addition and renovation) Strategically locate administrative and student services offices and improve wayfinding for students, prospective students, and visitors (addition and renovation) Expand student and public services (addition and renovation) Create green and energy-saving improvements (addition and renovation) Page 16 of 16