UNH, Franklin Pierce Law eye merger

YOUR COMMENTS

They should look at the merger of Dickinson Law School (Carlisle, PA) with Penn State ... there were many arguments on both sides. Ultimately, Penn State won.
- Ann, Salem

@ Mike: I work at the Pierce Law clinics and the majority of free legal services we provide are not related to IP, and they are all provided to folks who otherwise would not have legal representation. Just one of these services is the work we do to save people's homes from foreclosure during this time of financial crisis.

As for the Concord economy: I don't know if 10s of millions is the right number, but I do know that most of the approximately 500 students that attend FPLC, not to mention the dozens of faculty and staff members that work here, pay rent, buy groceries, and support the downtown shops, among other things.

As for what you think the students do to make your life so difficult: you offer no proof to support your "facts" about parking issues, garbage, etc. But I promise you can pull tax records and newspaper articles that support the good things FPLC brings to the City of Concord.

By the tone of your post, which was both rude and ill-tempered, I'm guessing you are an individual that can never be pleased with FPLC. The good thing is no one else feels the same as you do. I have never heard of any other criticisms of this nature. I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself and stop making a fool out of yourself.
- Ken, Concord

Hey Mike, you sound really bitter over nothing. What is your deal?

Pierce does do service projects for parks included but not limited to White Park. It has also been established that Pierce Law had nothing to do with the current renovations as White Park, in fact, when we were asked to give our input we refrained. Furthermore, you obviously have a myopic view of what our clinics do. We have numerous clinics focused on issues outside of intellectual property; administrative practice (unemployment denials, nursing home denials, etc.), consumer and commercial (foreclosure, auto fraud, landlord/tenant, bankruptcy, etc.), and indigent criminal defense.

Throwing lunch trash where we please? What? I have no idea what you are talking about.

You just sound like the angry bitter type who calls the cops when kids walk on your driveway to retrieve an errant basketball.
- Another Reply to Mike, Concord

It is a great idea and long overdue. UNH really should have a law school, and FPLC should be part of a bigger university system for the resources, cross-pollination, and a stronger sense of identity. This is one of those ideas that makes you wonder...why didn't they think of this 10 years ago?
- Andrew, Northern MA

This can only be a wining situation for students who plan to or currently attend FPLC. If you are not in the IP field, FPLC is not recognized anywhere outside of Northern New England. Major law firms do not interview on campus, thus this limits students employment options primarily to the low paying public service sector or only NH law firms. Merging with UNH would bring a recognized name to FPLC, hopefully enabling students to explore other employment options. Moreover, this may reduce the cost of attendance so that students would be able to practice in areas of interests to them as opposed to having to take jobs because the owe over $100k in loans to attend a school that nobody has heard of!
- Pat, Concord

Maybe you can use your name next time too since you can't seem to use any facts.

FPC does NOT 'put 'tens of millions of dollars annually into the Concord economy'. It does NOT 'conduct large service projects for local parks'. I don't know if you made this up or what. No idea if it provides FREE law services to indigent members...who have an intellectual property issue??? lol Seems logical.

It DOES get a FREE parking lot located within WHite Park AT TAX PAYERS EXPENSE. The students are generally rude and feel entitled to do as they please including holding up traffic by walking anywhere at anytime regardless of anyone else, parking ANYWHERE they see fit (Snowbanks? I'll just park my BMW in the road on Washington St. The townies can go another way), discarding their cigarettes anywhere they please (Maybe THIS is what you meant when you mentioned tens of millions??). Just throwing their lunch trash whereever they please. Need I go on?

So, provide a name and some factual info next time or just shut it, ok bud? This school is NOT loved by all - especially the immediate local neighbors.
- Mike, Concord

I am a Biomedical Engineering undergrad who came to Pierce Law to study Patent Law. Having moved from the mountain west, I can tell you that the only people who know about Pierce Law outside of New England are people in the IP world. I think that becoming The University of New Hampshire School of Law would certainly help those students who are not doing IP, at the same time the name Pierce Law is synonymous of a great IP Program, thus ridding the school of this name all together could be detrimental to those of us who came here for the IP program. This issue could easily be solved by calling the school as a whole: The University of New Hampshire School of Law, while referring to the IP branch of the school as: Franklin Pierce Intellectual Property Law Center.
- Omar, Manchester, New Hampshire

It never made sense to me that UNH didn't have a law school. I was disappointed, after graduating from UNH that I would have to leave the state to study law outside of the IP arena. I mean Franklin Pierce is a top IP law school, but under the UNH umbrella, it could become a real competitor to other New England law schools. Stay in Concord (it's a beautiful spot), or move it to the UNH Manchester campus, either way this merger is a great idea.
- Ethan, Santa Rosa, CA

Hey Mike, what is it that Pierce Law does that causes so much trouble for local residents? Inject tens of millions of dollars annually into the Concord economy, provide legal assistance to hundreds of indigent residents each year, conduct large service projects for local parks? Next time you decide to malign an entire school maybe you should elaborate on exactly what bothers you instead of veiled and imprudent attacks.
- Reply To Mike, Concord

OF course there are some downsides, but consider this. Last summer I interned on the west coast at a firm full of attorneys who had attended east coast schools, and when I introduced myself as being a student from the Franklin Pierce Law Center most of them replied, "Where is that?" Some even asked me IF it was a law school. Nobody had even heard of it. If I'm going to finish school with $130,000 in loan debt, I would at least like some options outside of New England.
- D.C., Concord

As a FPLC Alum, I am distressed that the law center finds itself in the position of exploring an affiliation with UNH. The law center would certainly lose it's autonomy, it's identity, and, in my opinion, the support of the alumni.

I am equally suprised that it was the law center that approached the university regarding the merger. Is it a question of economics? Can the law center no longer sustain itself financially? With the number of different programs and the cost of tuition, were I a trustee, I would find it idisconcerting that the finances of the law center appear on shaky ground.
- ML, NH

Please merge...perhaps you can offer up with lower tuition, expand and increase enrollment, offer a part time JD option, and allow access to more students (from NH) that would like to study law, but do not have an inexpensive in state option. The regional plan allowing access to UCONN and Maine Law at a discounted rate isn't sufficient for working professionals as Maine law doesn't offer part time and UConn is too far to still live and work here. Suffolk and NESL are all ridiculously expensive and are in the city.
- JP, Manchester, NH

What an excruciatingly interesting and positive idea!

What took the parties this long to figure out that it was a possibility?

(Move to Durham. Do it now. Maybe you could buy the McIntosh College campus in Dover)
- Larry Gillis, Cape Coral FL

Music to local residents ears that this place could somehow possibly lose their local campusi f this merger goes through. Not the most welcome of local businesses. Well, unless you like nonlocals who feel entitled to...well, everything.
- Mike, Concord

The confusion over the law school's name alone is reason enough for some change.
- Alice, Manchester

Don't do it Franklin Pierce. You'll lose your independence and flexibility, and possibly your Concord location too, only to become an income generator for UNH and be burdened with a rabbits' warren of bureaucratic procedures. You will find your school at the mercy of the university system and the legislature for funding.
- John, Maine