Northwestern Law Dean Cites School's 'Difficult Time' as Reason for Faculty Cuts
Dean Kimberly Yuracko is reducing the number of staff, clinical and nontenure-track lecturers in order to cut operating expenses. The move comes under pressure from the university to decrease costs.
November 05, 2018 at 05:10 PM
5 minute read
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is cutting staff and teaching positions amid a financial shortfall.
Dean Kimberly Yuracko informed the Chicago school's faculty of the downsizing plan and budget problems in a message to its internal listserv, saying the school is in a “challenging financial position.” In an interview Monday, Yuracko, who sent the message to the school's faculty in late September, said that the law school is not in dire financial straits. She said that a directive from the central university to reduce expenses and her new deanship—she took over in September—spurred her to take a close look at how and where the law school was spending its funds.
“The truth is, as a new dean I would have come in anyway and looked closely at our budget and expenses,” Yuracko said. “But I was certainly prompted to do so more quickly and thoroughly because the university told all the units that we needed to reduce expenses.”
Northwestern Law's situation is notable for several reasons. It dispels the notion that elite law schools—Northwestern is ranked No. 11 by U.S. News & World Report—are immune or at least buffered from the fiscal woes that have plagued many law schools since 2010, when enrollment and the national applicant pool shrunk significantly. Second, it demonstrates aggressive fundraising is no cure-all for financial pressures in a fiercely competitive law school environment.
Yuracko declined to detail the amount of the budget shortfall or the number of positions she has cut, but her faculty letter said the school's operating expenses this year are expected to outpace its revenues. The school will draw on its reserves to cover the difference this year, but Yuracko said Northwestern Law needs to make bigger adjustments to bring its expenses in line with revenue for its long-term health.
In addition to reducing staff, clinical, and lecture positions through eliminating vacant jobs and not renewing certain short-term teaching contracts next year—tenured faculty positions are not under review—the school is increasing the size of its LL.M. class to increase revenue, she said. Affected clinicians and lecturers have been informed that their contracts will end this academic year, she added.
The law school has nearly reached the $250 million goal of its Motion to Lead fundraising campaign launched in 2014 by then-dean Daniel Rodriguez. The single largest chunk of that money came from a $100 million donation from the Pritzker family in 2015, the biggest gift to a law school in history. The school was renamed as a result. But donor funds often come with strings attached, Yuracko wrote in her faculty note.
“I also understand it may be difficult to reconcile internal cost-cutting efforts with our recent fundraising successes,” she wrote. “The law school, along with the university as a whole, is fortunate to have a generous donor community that has allowed us to increase financial aid and begin addressing student debt, among other initiatives. The money raised, however, is typically earmarked for specific uses in line with the donors' wishes and cannot be redirected to operating expenses.”
Rodriguez said in an interview Monday that the bulk of the Pritzker gift, for example, is being used to bolster the school's endowment, meaning it is being invested and not available for immediate use.
“Whether it's a large or small deficit is clearly a matter of perspective,” Rodriguez said of the school's current operating shortfall. “I regard it as a relatively small deficit, but not meaningless. Kim is attentive and attune to ensuring that we don't dig a hole for ourselves that is harder to come out of.”
Yuracko said that no single factor created the budget deficit, and that her chosen course of action is difficult.
“These have not been easy steps to take, especially in regard to our faculty and staff colleagues,” Yuracko wrote. “We are trying to treat impacted individuals with sensitivity and are looking for ways to ease the stress of this transition.”
Some of the cuts affect the law school's Bluhm Clinic, which houses more than 20 separate clinic programs and 14 centers and is among the most comprehensive law school clinical program in the country. The clinic is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and is featured in the popular Netflix documentary “Making a Murderer.” (Two professors in the clinic represented convicted murderer Brendan Dassey, the main focus of the series along with his uncle Steven Avery, in his postconviction litigation.)
But Yuracko's review found that some of the clinics offerings were consistently under-enrolled. “What really struck me as I delved into our financial situation is I felt like we were structurally a little bit off, given where our J.D. numbers are,” she said. “We had experienced a lot of growth over the years as our J.D. sizes increased significantly, then they weren't down a little bit. What this felt like to me was rightsizing. It wasn't that our budget was in trouble. But it felt like we weren't spending our money as well as we could and having the best impact for our students.”
Yuracko said she spent the summer before commencing her deanship working with several faculty committees and the central university administrators to determine the law school's options regarding closing the budget deficit. She unveiled her decisions to faculty, staff, and the executive board of the school's Student Bar Association in meetings in September.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllMore Big Law Firms Rush to Match Associate Bonuses, While Some Offer Potential for Even More
Dog Gone It, Target: Provider of Retailer's Mascot Dog Sues Over Contract Cancellation
4 minute readIn Talc Bankruptcy, Andy Birchfield Skipped His Deposition. Could He Face Sanctions?
6 minute readGC Conference Takeaways: Picking AI Vendors 'a Bit of a Crap Shoot,' Beware of Internal Investigation 'Scope Creep'
8 minute readTrending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250