WilmU will join Widener as the only institutions with law schools in Delaware. (Wilmington University Facebook)
Wilmington University is starting a law school.
It will be the First State’s second, joining Widener University’s Delaware Law School, which was founded in 1971.
Soon-to-be-lawyers don’t have to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars to attend, either.
WilmU law tuition
The cost for full-time students will be $24,000 per year and $18,000 for part-time students, which the university’s website says is the cheapest tuition of any law school in the region.
To compare, Widener’s law school costs a first-year, full-time student $57,376 per year and part-time students $43,032.
The cheapest tuition path, which is for part-time students who are sophomores or older, costs $39,446, $15,000 more than WilmU’s program.
Phillip Closius will serve as dean.
Closius was the dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law for four years and also taught law at the University of Toledo School of Law for 28 years.
On WilmU’s website, Closius welcomed the community and stated that the institution is “committed to being something different…”
He pointed out that he and his staff have decades of experience at other law schools.
Closius has practiced law at several different firms during his career as a professor and dean.
In addition, he taught at Southwestern University School of Law, the University of Bridgeport School of Law, and the Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law.
Similar to other programs at WilmU, the course schedules and curricula have been crafted to maximize the benefit for students who may be balancing professional and personal commitments in addition to their studies.
The school hopes to attract students who reflect the diverse communities in which they live.
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WilmU will introduce the School of Law Thursday, Oct. 27, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Additional information is expected to be provided then, and community members can livestream the ceremony here.
Creating a new law school was one of the suggestions made by the 101-page “Improving Diversity in the Delaware Bench and Bar: Strategic Plan Report and Recommendations” released in May by the Delaware Supreme Court.
That report included 50 action points that stretched from pre-college years through promoting diversity recruitment for judicial positions in a variety of ways.
One of the ideas was to create a new law school at Delaware State University, a Historically Black College and University.
No public action has been taken on that plan.
Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.
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