Some Lawyer Types Don't See Glory in the Green

The proposed UNT at Dallas College of Law has gotten a bit of press since the bill approving its creation was signed into law by Gov. Perry a little over a year ago. Most of the reaction that I've seen has been pretty positive...until today, when I read this post by one Elie Mystal at the "tabloid law blog" Above the Law. Mystal slams the idea of one more law school for what could be considered a good reason: A lot of law school graduates are un- or underemployed and facing massive amounts of debt. But that still doesn't seem like a reason for him (yes, "Elie" is a guy) to pick apart the law school's raison d'etre point-by-point, referring to all of them as "extremely stupid reasons."

It's certainly vaild to ask if the Dallas/Ft. Worth area could use a public law school, since the only one in Dallas is located at SMU, where the tuition isn't exactly affordable for lots of people. And commenter "George B." makes what I consider to be one of the best points in the thread:

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has grown to about 6.5 million people mostly due to strong job growth during good economic times. Shouldn't universities expand where the people and jobs are, Northern suburbs of Dallas in this case, instead of insisting that students give up their current life and move to a college town?

A lot of people live and work in the DFW area; why not let them get this part of their education here as well?

And again, it's also valid to ask if there are too many law schools already (and, by extension, too many lawyers?). But there's no reason for all the cheap shots here. Sure, there's a chance that the school may not turn out to be a rousing success, but it seems like it's worth a try.

Extra bonus: I get into it a bit with another commenter--a lawyer who had a bad UNT undergrad experience and considers it to be little more than a "trade school." Of course, I call him/her out on such snobbery.