in Houston, Texas

State education experts say it's not needed, but the North Texas legislative delegation still wants funding for a new law school in Dallas.

Dallas has no shortage of attorneys, and a law school could take tax money away from existing undergraduate and graduate schools in Texas, according to the 2007 Higher Education Coordinating Board Report.

But supporters of the new law school -- and they include just about the entire North Texas business and political establishment -- say it would help cap the city's efforts to revitalize its downtown while providing an affordable place for working students to obtain their law degrees.

“I think there are some people who would say if you have only have a dollar to spend, let’s spend it on science and engineering and math. And I don’t disagree with that,” said state Rep. Dan Branch, a Dallas Republican and corporate attorney who is co-sponsoring the law school bill in the legislature this session. But "when you take a long-term view in a rule-of-law society ... it’s important that you have access to a legal education.”

Branch, a childhood friend of new House Speaker Joe Straus, was appointed last week to chair the Higher Education committee, a plum assignment that could help ensure the passage of the bill.

But critics say a new law school would be a waste of increasingly scarce taxpayer dollars at a time when the legal profession isn't as promising as it used to be

“The notion that you have to have a law school in every city: that’s pork-barrel spending and local pride," says Hugh Rice Kelly, the corporate counsel for Texans for Lawsuit Reform. "America needs fewer law schools, not more. The graduates of existing law schools increasingly cannot obtain employment as lawyers, and the job market today is being flooded with lawyers who are being laid off.

Click here to read more about this year's debate over a new law school and the parliamentary hijinks that prevented the law school's passage in 2007.

The city of Dallas' role

If the legislature passes the bill, the new law school would be part of the University of North Texas system and run by Lee Jackson, the former Dallas County judge. Classes would start in fall 2012.

Though the proposed law school would be largely funded by the state -- to the tune of at least $40 million -- Dallas taxpayers would also contribute. The city would provide the physical structure, the Dallas Municipal Building.

The aging granite and limestone building on the southern edge of downtown used to house City Hall, and later, the Dallas Police Department. (The circa 1914 structure is where Jack Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963.)

If the law school is approved, court and detention services housed at the old City Hall would be moved.

Last month, the Dallas city council voted to spend $14 million to renovate the building, which floods easily. The city will also tap a separate fund of $2 million in public-private dollars dedicated to restoring the building.

“The reason the city has pledged this level of support is that we feel that every vibrant downtown has a public institution in it, “ says Mark Duebner, the city’s special projects director. “We believe a new law school would help achieve our goal of downtown revitalization.

City officials say they plan to renovate the building regardless of what happens in Austin, but they strongly support a law school in their urban core.

Photo: Old Dallas City Hall, which would house a new public law school if the state legislature approves funding. Courtesy of the City of Dallas.

Contact Matt Pulle at matt@texaswatchdog.org or 713-980-9777.

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