Two area law schools are expanding west.
Lansing-based Thomas M. Cooley Law School will offer classes at Western Michigan University's downtown Grand Rapids Graduate Center beginning in May.
In addition, MSU-Detroit College of Law is offering a third-year advanced securities regulation course at Grand Valley State University in Allendale.
Both schools also plan to develop more classes in the future.
"Grand Rapids has been a steady supplier of students in the Lansing area since we have opened," said Don LeDuc, Cooley president and dean.
Until recently, LeDuc said he didn't think Grand Rapids had a large enough population to support a Cooley program.
"We would not be graduating students from Grand Rapids," LeDuc said. "We put in an application to run a program there for the first two years of law school."
Cooley has petitioned the American Bar Association to offer a two-year program in Grand Rapids, which would offer 59 of the 90 credits required to graduate.
Students would have to take their remaining electives in Lansing but would have the option of completing a required work experience in the Grand Rapids area.
A work experience is worth between three and 10 credit hours allowing Grand Rapids students to complete another semester near home and requiring them to commute to Lansing one night a week for classroom work.
Stephanie Gregg, Cooley assistant dean of admissions, said there is a need for law schools in Western Michigan.
"This is an area that has been under-served," she said. "There has been such a surge of interest."
Dan Eley is looking to attend Cooley's classes opening in Grand Rapids.
Eley, a former Detroit resident, considered attending Wayne State University to receive his law degree. When the television documentary producer moved to Muskegon, law school no longer seemed to be an option because of the commute.
"Knowing that there weren't any law schools west of Lansing, I ruled it out," he said.
"It would not have been practical to commute to Lansing, but Grand Rapids is much more feasible."
DCL will also further its Grand Rapids-area course load by offering a full semester of third-year law courses through GVSU next fall.
This will allow students enrolled at DCL to finish their course work in Grand Rapids.
Attorneys in the area say this new westward expansion of law schools is needed.
"It caters to a lot of people that are working," attorney Edward Bardelli said. "To have the ability to take classes close to where your home is, is going to benefit people with a full-time job."
Grand Rapids resident Tom Willett said he was excited to learn of Cooley's opening in the area. Willett, a pharmacy director, said the school accommodates his full-time work schedule.
"I have been wanting to go to law school for a while but this is the first opportunity to allow me to do it," he said.
"I am not sure I am the traditional law school student, but there could be a lot of us out there that are looking for an opportunity like this."
