Cut UW Law School Subsidy; We’ll Survive
When Wisconsin State Assembly Republicans passed a budget that barely raised taxes you knew Democrats and their MSM sympathizers would point out all the “draconian cuts” that would supposedly destroy Wisconsin’s quality of life. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel took their shots. Others will soon follow.
One of the cuts that stand out is the eventual elimination of funding for the University of Wisconsin Law School. When that got into the budget talk around the capitol was “Who has the vendetta against the law school?”
Rep. Frank Lasee is the man who got the cut. He didn’t talk about a vendetta. He simply thinks Wisconsin produces too many lawyers:
“We don’t need more ambulance chasers. We don’t need frivolous lawsuits. And we don’t need attorneys making people’s lives miserable when they go to family court for divorces,” said Rep. Frank Lasee, R-Bellevue. “And I think that having too many attorneys leads to all those bad results.”’
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“They’re trying to make us look petty,” he said. “It isn’t petty. It’s about the big picture. We have too many attorneys clogging our court system and hurting our citizens looking for work for themselves.”
The typical people are crying. Law school Dean Kenneth Davis said the cut would decrease access to the law school.
“That would be a very bitter pill to swallow for us,” Davis said. “We have a national reputation for access to legal education.”
$12,600 isn’t chicken feed. People only pay this after they spend thousands of dollars on four-year college. This isn’t about the poor and destitute being denied a chance to become a lawyer. They have more pressing problems.
Not subsidizing the law school would mean an increase in $5000 per year in tuition. What that does is make potential lawyers recalculate their costs versus benefits. Some will find it isn’t worth it to go to law school. Others won’t care but will face higher student loan repayment costs.
Is that fair? It’s as fair as the long haul truck drivers who are dealing with higher fuel prices. It’s as fair as coffee drinkers who put up with Starbucks raising their prices.
Dean Davis offered an interesting detail. The law school only gets 10% of its budget from the state. The law school could survive without the state subsidy. That idea is completely alien to UW System spokesman David Giroux who said, “Our only public law school would have no public funding. That makes no sense to me.”
The point of a public law school is to make sure Wisconsin has enough lawyers to meet the state’s needs. There’s no evidence the state has a shortage of lawyers. Even if the earth opened up and swallowed the UW Law School new lawyers would still be trained in Wisconsin, and graduates of law schools outside Wisconsin can practice law here. There’s no need for government funding when other means are available.
Does Dean Davis believe there’s no way he couldn’t get the funds to replace the state subsidy? I doubt it, not with the school’s alumni, a who’s who of Wisconsin business and politics. If he can’t then I recommend the law school find a dean capable of fundraising.
If Lasee goes through with a possible run for Congress expect opposing candidates to pull this up as an example of his “extremism.” I dont’ see this as extreme. Rather it’s sensible fiscal discipline. $7 million (Lasee’s number) or $2.5 million (Davis’ number) isn’t a big part of the state budget. But we live at a time when Wisconsin’s taxpayers are stretched to the max. Government shouldn’t spend more than it has to. Extras like subsidizing law students have to go on the chopping block. It’s not extreme to make government live within its means especially when citizens paying the taxes have to do the same.
“Tired of Lawyers, Bellevue’s Lasee Wants to Cut Law School’s Funding“
Better yet, if there are too many lawyers as Frank says, let’s use the Circuit City model for reducing the numbers in Wisconsin.
Maintain the subsidy and let as many newbie lawyers in as we can but for every $42,500 baby lawyer we pull the license from one who’s been practicing for the longest.
We eliminate the highest-paid, highest-perk lawyers from the system. That should bring down the cost of law services all around. And, as an added benefit, those with the most experience at chasing and catching ambulances would be out on the street.