Lakehead University creates law school task force

Lakehead University has put together a task force to bring a proposed law school in the city closer to reality.

The 14-member chancellor’s task force, revealed Wednesday on the grounds of the former PACI with a large sign over its doors that read Lakehead University Faculty of Law, will advocate for the university to secure the last piece of the puzzle -- provincial funding.

All other approvals, from the Lakehead University Senate to Canadian law societies, have so far been secured.

"All of those fundamentals have been achieved and we have the property and the one thing that we now must do is get public funding and private support subsequently to make the thing become a reality," said Lakehead Chancellor and chair of the task force Arthur Mauro.

Mauro said the task force will show the province that the proposed law school has community support from all over the region and should be approved.

"We’re going to have to prove the business case that it’s necessary and it can be done and it’s the right thing to do at this time in this place," said Mauro. "It’s going to happen."
Lakehead president Brian Stevenson agreed, saying the task force needs to show that support.

"It is an initiative that came from within the community and it is an initiative that is there to serve the community," Stevenson said.

The school would require up to $900,000 per year, out of a Lakehead budget of more than $110 million, in public funding once it’s fully operational.

The remaining part of the estimated $2.5 million operating costs would come from tuition and other sources, Stevenson said.

The task force would also be searching for private funds for scholarships, library donations and capital projects to renovate the 102-year old heritage building.

Stevenson is hoping to have the first 55 students at the school by 2013.
"My dream would be that this first generation would come in September of 2013," Stevenson said.