NIU’s College of Law and the Illinois Board of Higher Education are at odds over the demand for lawyers in this country.

A Sept. 3 report issued by the IBHE stated, “In Illinois and nationally, the number of law school graduates exceeds the number of job openings and this imbalance is predicted to continue in the coming decade. Statewide capacity in this field should be reduced.”

The IBHE report focused on a statewide quantitative analysis of instructional programs at public universities and community colleges.

NIU Law Dean James Alfini disputes the IBHE’s findings. “They have based them on false presumptions,” he said.

Alfini said the IBHE characterizes the law programs in Illinois as being too expensive and graduating more lawyers than are needed.

In terms of cost per graduate credit hour, Alfini said the law program is not too expensive. “We rank right in the middle,” he said.

At $342.55 per graduate credit hour, the law program ranks 18 out of 40 graduate programs. Law classes are more expensive at NIU than communications and math at the graduate level, but less expensive than philosophy or journalism.

In terms of producing more lawyers than there is a demand for, Alfini said Illinois schools are actually not producing enough lawyers.

Citing statistics issued by the Illinois Department of Employment Security, Alfini said state law schools are producing only half the lawyers needed to meet annual growth needs.

“The Department of Labor says there is a need for 3,000 new lawyers a year,” Alfini said. “Illinois law schools produce only 1,500 a year.”

The IBHE does not agree.

In fact, Ross Hodel, IBHE deputy director, said the Illinois Occupational Coordinating Council cited the same Illinois Department of Employment Security Statistics but came up with a different conclusion.

In a recent IOCC magazine, “Horizons,” an article stated that “there are more law school graduates in Illinois than expected job openings.”

Hodel said the IBHE has also surveyed the Illinois law schools and their information indicates that there is an oversupply of lawyers.

In addition, Hodel said John DeMoss, director of the Illinois State Bar Association, reports that the job market is flooded with lawyers.

Alfini again disputes those findings.

“(The IOCC) has misconstrued those statistics,” he said. “Frankly, I can’t see any way the IBHE can look at those statistics and not say there is going to be an increased demand for lawyers.”