SNAPSHOTSouthern Illinois University School of LawFounded: 1973Located: CarbondaleDean: Cynthia Fountaine (right)2014-15 J.D. enrollment: 347Current tuition: $14,325
	Where 2013 graduates are employed, as of March 2014:
	
			75.19 percent in job requiring law license
			8.53 percent in job where J.D. is an advantage
			7.75 percent are unemployed and seeking work
	Graduates tend to work in small to midsize firms and business positions. About a quarter  work in public sector positions, including judicial clerkships.Source: SIUThis is the fifth installment in a regular series profiling the nine law schools in Illinois.The John Marshall Law SchoolNorthern Illinois University College of LawNorthwestern University School of LawIIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
SNAPSHOT
FountaineSouthern Illinois University School of Law
Founded: 1973
Located: Carbondale
Dean: Cynthia Fountaine (right)
2014-15 J.D. enrollment: 347
Current tuition: $14,325
Where 2013 graduates are employed, as of March 2014:
  • 75.19 percent in job requiring law license
  • 8.53 percent in job where J.D. is an advantage
  • 7.75 percent are unemployed and seeking work
Graduates tend to work in small to midsize firms and business positions. About a quarter  work in public sector positions, including judicial clerkships.
Source: SIU

This is the fifth installment in a regular series profiling the nine law schools in Illinois.
Source: SIU
Students studying at SIU School of Law.
Students studying at SIU School of Law. — Earl Richardson, courtesy of SIU
Until the Southern Illinois University School of Law’s founding in 1973, a 240-mile stretch of the state south of Champaign had no law school.
Until the Southern Illinois University School of Law’s founding in 1973, a 240-mile stretch of the state south of Champaign had no law school. — Earl Richardson, courtesy of SIU

Southern Illinois University School of Law is 333 miles from Chicago. It’s 225 miles from Mississippi.

One might say the Carbondale law school is more “Southern” than “Illinois.”

That suits its students just fine.

“I think the rural farm setting is good for enveloping yourself in graduate school,” said third-year student and Glen Ellyn-native Paul Hale. “Which is what you have to do, because it’s very hard.”

Or, as second-year student Chelsea Grubb said: “It’s the most peaceful place to be stressed out.”

A school for southern Illinois

Until SIU law’s founding in 1973, the 240-mile stretch from Champaign to the state’s southern border was bereft of a law school.

To stay in-state and near home, southern Illinois students could attend the University of Illinois College of Law, which is 196 miles from Carbondale. The closest market was out of state: St. Louis and its two schools, Saint Louis University and Washington University.

In the 1960s, the dean of the latter was Hiram H. Lesar. Born in downstate Thebes, Lesar and others saw a need for legal services in the southern part of his home state.

So, in 1973, Lesar helped found SIU’s law school and served as dean for its first seven years.

“There is still a lot of law going on in the rest of the state,” Hale said. “Every attorney in the (federal court’s) Southern District or judge in the southern part of Illinois, I think, feels connected to SIU.”

While SIU can accurately be described as “one of Illinois’ nine law schools,” it exists in a separate market. Its biggest overlap schools — that is, schools to which students who apply to SIU also apply — are SLU, Washington and The John Marshall Law School.

Other competitors include schools in Indiana (Indiana University, Valparaiso University) and Kentucky (University of Kentucky, Northern Kentucky, Washburn University).

Likewise, when students look for work, their search extends beyond Chicago.

“We’re basically all over the Midwest,” said Michael P. Ruiz, SIU’s assistant dean for career services.

According to Ruiz, of the 129 graduates last year, 10 work in Springfield. That’s the most 2013 graduates in any one market.

“I think that’s why they were able to find jobs at a high rate,” he said. “They were going to all these other markets where they were competitive.”

In 2013 — the most recent year with available employment stats — SIU was one of only three Illinois law schools where more than 90 percent of students found employment within nine months of graduation.

The only higher rates than SIU’s 90.7 were the University of Chicago Law School’s 97.2 and Northwestern University School of Law’s 94.4.

The next highest was U. of I. at 86.2. The highest remaining Chicago school, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, was 85 percent.

SIU compares favorably with regional law schools, too. Last year, the school had a better employment rate than competitors Indiana (89.8), Washington (89.3), Notre Dame Law School (86.4) and SLU (84.1).

SIU facilitates those market connections.

“If you’re talking to somebody and you’re like, ‘I like property law,’ they’re like, ‘OK, Mike Durr in Springfield. He does property law. He’s an SIU grad. That’s who you need to call,’” Grubb said.

Added second-year student Ulyana Bekker: “SIU hooks you up with a lot of (opportunities). They’ll recommend you or they’ll let you work at the clinic, so you’ll have actual experience before you even start your job hunt. And after your first employment, no one cares anymore.”

While Grubb wants to work in Springfield and Bekker is unsure, Hale knows he wants to work in Chicago. When he came to SIU, he was concerned about making connections from Carbondale.

“In order to do that, you have to start that project day one in law school,” he said. “It kind of forced me to, right out of the gate, be proactive about getting a job in Chicago. It puts pressure on you as a Chicago person looking for a job in Chicago from SIU, but I think that’s good pressure.”

The cost of doing business

SIU was founded two years before Northern Illinois University College of Law, making it the state’s second-youngest law school.

But the Hiram H. Lesar Law Building was opened in 1981, giving SIU the feeling of a law school time forgot.

“It’s pretty noticeable when you walk in the doors that the building is a little dated,” said second-year student Brandon Woundenberg.

With its drab carpeting and — in spots — musty scent, SIU’s facility offers little aesthetically compared to law schools renovated in the past 20 years.

“We are committed to keeping our tuition low,” Dean Cynthia Fountaine said. “That means we don’t always get to have a new, shiny building.”

Instead, the school offers a snug, communal setting.

Last month, students in the building could be seen selling tickets to the school’s annual Barristers Ball, studying in an open-space lounge, playing chess and eating in the cafeteria and generally filling the hallways with school spirit and bustling activity.

The building sits on expansive grounds — grass, trees, picnic tables — while the campus is surrounded by wineries and areas for hiking and fishing.

Fountaine, dean since 2010, adds to the homey feeling.

She and her husband invite students to their house for yearly dinners. And both Grubb, a mother of two, and Woundenberg, a father of two, said Fountaine knows their children by name.

Woundenberg said she even knows his cat by name.

The atmosphere helps students disregard any aging facilities. So does the tuition.

At $14,325, SIU is easily the least expensive law school in the state. The next closest is NIU at $21,764, then U. of I. at $38,250.

Those savings contribute to the high employment stats because smaller loan payments alleviate the pressure to get a high-paying job immediately after graduation.

“It helps a lot, if you’re not going to make a lot of money, to not owe a lot of money,” said third-year student Tania Linares.

The school does spend money, though. As library resources go digital, the school replaced some library space with additional clinic space in May. The school also now has a family study room with games and children’s books for kids as well as a computer, desk and Internet access for parents, adding to its accommodation of families.

There is also money to be spent on student programs.

“The fellowship I got this summer to do public interest work — it was money that the law school had left over from some judgment, some class-action suit,” Woundenberg said about his Bartylak Fellowship.

“The money they do have, they make a judgment call of what’s going to be better for our career than what’s going to be aesthetically pleasing while we’re here.”

Areas of learning

As at many law schools, SIU students choose the school in part for the curriculum.

It all starts with a professionalism class Fountaine co-teaches for first-year students.

“You really get to know the students in a comfortable environment,” she said.

Fountaine’s hands-on work in the curriculum extends to the school’s legal globalization program, in which she leads student trips to Germany to tour the country’s courts. Other groups go to Cuba and Australia with future trips planned for Botswana and South Africa.

Her personal student interaction sets the tone for the rest of the faculty.

“I would challenge other people who are looking at other law schools to walk around and see how many faculty doors are open,” Grubb said. “It’s personal. You don’t feel like another number.”

The school offers 32 clinical slots in juvenile justice, domestic violence and elder law with externships in public interest and judicial clerkships.

The school also has specialization certificates in litigation and dispute resolution, health, business transactions, intellectual property and international law.

Its writing program coordinates assignments across the curriculum to create a cohesive experience that also challenges students to write for an audience — their professors.

And its librarians are all tenure-track faculty. Bekker and Grubb said they both call librarians regularly, even over the summer. Hale lauded the integration of library skills with the school’s lawyering skills program.

“It’s rigorous (and) forces you to spend a lot of time in the library,” Hale said about the program. “Once you’re done with that, you know a legal library.”

Add it all up and you’ve got a school with satisfied students and employed graduates, two traits that never need a renovation.