THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 7, 1994 TAG: 9407070492
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Regent University's law school, overcoming internal turmoil and bucking national trends, has experienced a 20 percent increase in applications since last year.
Other law schools across the state and country are attracting fewer applicants. But the number of applications at the evangelical graduate school is up from 469 last year to 561.
``It is the fact that we have our own niche,'' said Laurene Mylar, assistant dean for admissions at the school. ``We offer the Christian perspective on a legal education. We do stress ethics in all our classes, and ethics are a hot button these days.''
The boost in applications will allow the school to expand its first-year law class from 120 to 160 students, said Bill Techanchuk, Regent's dean for student development. The school had 300 students last year.
The increase comes as the school grapples with continuing internal unrest and lingering uncertainty about its future. Last year, the school's founding dean, Herbert W. Titus, was ousted. And this spring, three law professors were fired. Two recently filed lawsuits against Regent.
Meanwhile, the school is awaiting a final accreditation decision from the American Bar Association, which has approved ``provisional accreditation'' for Regent. Accreditation is required for students to take the bar exam in most states.
The controversy has drawn national attention, including an article last October in The New York Times, and has worried officials like Mylar. ``We did wonder how that would affect us,'' she said, ``but we have people very interested in what we offer here.''
James Karns knew that accreditation wasn't guaranteed. But he bypassed a spot at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania to attend Regent Law this fall. The reasons: a healthy aid package and a comfortable philosophical bent.
``The philosophy of law at most law schools is that law is basically the will of the people,'' said Karns, 27, of Chesapeake. ``At Regent, law has its foundations in the Sovereign Creator, and law comes from outside man.''
Nationally, the number of law school applicants has fallen for three straight years, according to the Law School Admission Council in Newtown, Pa. This year's total - 83,300 - represents an 11 percent decline from the all-time high of 94,000 in 1991.
The decline has been even more dramatic at the University of Virginia, where the number of applicants has fallen 17 percent from the 1991 peak of 5,887 to 4,908 this year.
The College of William and Mary suffered its first recent decline this year - a 1 percent drop, from 3,417 last year to 3,392.
Wayne Moore, a pre-law adviser at Virginia Tech, attributed the drop in applications to a decline in college graduates, the souring job market for lawyers and the crimp in the economy in the 1990s.
``When there are fewer mergers,'' said Moore, assistant professor of political science, ``there are fewer law firms doing mergers.'' But, he said: ``There is still lots of competition for law school spots, and the graduates of top law schools are very much sought after.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAW SCHOOL APPLICATIONS
Regent University
1994: 561
1993: 469
University of Virginia:
1994: 4,908
1993: 5,887
William & Mary:
1994: 3,392
1993: 3,417
Nationally:
1994: 83,300
1993: 94,000
by CNB