The University of North Dakota’s School of Law is to get the renovation they’ve so eagerly been waiting for, now that their last legislative session has awarded $11.4 million to expand the single building law-school. With 250 students, up from an enrollment of 203 in 2005, they continue to grow, despite the rest of the country trending in the opposite direction, what with fewer jobs in the field, and hence fewer applicants at law schools; but despite their growth, they’ve been turning away qualified applicants each year, and this simply for lack of space to put them.
“We have been cobbling together offices here and squeezing in an extra person there,” said Dean Kathryn Rand, as reported by Prairie Business. “I think we’ve kind of lost sight of what this building could be.”
The building has seen only one renovation since it was constructed in 1923, and that was the addition of a law library in 1973. The new space will give students room to practice negotiation skills, appellate advocacy skills and mock trials, said Rand. With only seven rooms so far, including two large lecture halls, two small classrooms, the Baker Courtroom, and two smaller rooms, the new project will add some space to the North.
How the building will be expanding is still being worked out, but as for who will be working on it, the law school has elected to use Icon, which the school also hired in 2007 to renovate a classroom.
One of the bummers for students is that they will need to relocate classrooms during construction, which is anticipated to begin May 2014 and finish as early as fall 2015.
“It’s really important that for the students that are here for a three-year program that if we’re going to ask for their education to be disrupted for a year or more, we minimize the negative impact on their educational experience,” she said. “It’s our No. 1 priority.”
That means that the relocation should be as smooth and natural as possible.