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Seattle U Law partners with University of Puget Sound to expand reach of South Sound Hybrid Hub to promote access to justice
Aspiring lawyers in the South Sound will have greater access to immersive legal education and opportunities thanks to a new partnership between the University of Puget Sound and Seattle University School of Law.
An event to inaugurate the partnership will be held on Puget Sound’s campus in Tacoma on Wednesday, March 26. More details will be announced soon.
As part of the law school’s South Sound Hybrid Hub, established last year, the partnership will provide significant in-person and virtual academic programming, counseling, networking, and experiential learning opportunities and resources for both Puget Sound undergraduates and law students in Seattle U Law’s pathbreaking Flex JD hybrid-online degree program.
Ultimately, the partnership seeks to ease barriers to attending law school, preparing attorneys of the future to practice law in the South Sound and thereby increasing access to critical legal services for area residents.
This partnership represents a reunion for the two institutions. Seattle U Law was founded in 1972 as the University of Puget Sound School of Law and based in central Tacoma. In 1993, Seattle University acquired the law school and, after completing construction of a new building, it moved to the university’s Seattle campus in 1999. Since then, the universities have continued to share a deep commitment to high-quality legal education for students living and practicing in the South Sound.
“Our law school is delighted to serve Tacoma, where we have deep roots,” Seattle University President Eduardo Peñalver said. “The University of Puget Sound is an excellent institution with wonderful students, faculty, and staff, and we very much look forward to working with our new colleagues to provide opportunities for their undergraduates and our law students in the greater South Sound area.”
This partnership strengthens the University of Puget Sound’s commitment to providing students with exceptional educational opportunities and expands access to legal education for aspiring lawyers across the South Sound.
“By collaborating with Seattle U Law, we are creating an additional pathway for our undergraduates and area alumni to seamlessly transition to law school, while also enriching our campus with valuable legal resources and experiences,” said University of Puget Sound President Isiaah Crawford. “We are excited to work together to foster a vibrant legal community that serves the needs of our region.”
Students from both institutions will benefit from the South Sound Hybrid Hub
Students in Seattle U Law’s hybrid-online Flex JD Program who are based in the South Sound will have access to Puget Sound’s library facilities to study and complete the mostly online coursework. They will also have access to more clinic and externship opportunities to gain real-world legal experience, as well as alumni mentoring opportunities.
In addition to serving Flex JD students, the Hybrid Hub programming augments the wide range of Puget Sound majors and courses that provide the foundational skills necessary for law school. Puget Sound students have successfully applied to law school with majors from over a dozen departments, from Politics & Government to Computer Science to Religion. The Hybrid Hub will offer additional programming and experiences that will help Puget Sound’s undergraduate students build their legal knowledge and connections and contribute to the intellectual life of the campus, including public lectures, legal employer gatherings, Seattle U Law alumni receptions, legal career panels, expanded opportunities to engage with the South Sound legal community, and more.
Anthony E. Varona, dean of Seattle U Law, conceived of the Hybrid Hub concept after conducting a listening and learning tour with stakeholders throughout Washington and Alaska. Outside of Seattle and Spokane, both states have great demand for legal education, and a shortage of lawyers to provide essential legal services. Varona envisioned the successful Flex JD program as an opportunity to build out a meaningful hybrid presence in regions like the South Sound to fill this void and provide opportunity and access.
Varona said, “The time is right to respond to the urgent need for a law school presence in the South Sound with a 21st Century, post-COVID hybrid online solution.” He noted, “Hybrid legal education reflects the reality that the practice of law is now and will continue to be hybridized, utilizing online platforms strategically and in a pedagogically sound manner, with important in-person, physical engagement opportunities provided in partnership with key hub-based institutions.”
Making legal education more accessible
Seattle U Law launched the Flex JD program in 2021 to make it possible for aspiring lawyers who live in areas without convenient access to a law school, and who may have families and jobs that keep them in place, to earn law degrees. These students are more likely to stay in their home communities to work as attorneys, providing much needed legal services. Currently, one-quarter of all Flex JD students hail from the South Sound region, which does not have an existing law school.
Through a hybrid format, students can earn a law degree by completing most coursework online, with just a few in-person, weekend class sessions each year on Seattle University’s campus. The South Sound Hybrid Hub will host activities for Flex JD students in this region.
Seattle U School of Law and Puget Sound anticipate finding future opportunities for strengthening the faculty connections between both schools and developing an accelerated admission program for Puget Sound students interested in enrolling in the SU Law In-Person or Flex JD Programs.
In addition to Puget Sound, the South Sound Hybrid Hub includes the University of Washington Tacoma as a principal founding partner, a relationship that was inaugurated last year. Seattle U Law has also established similar Hybrid Hubs in Anchorage, Alaska, and in the Yakima Valley to improve access to legal education to other areas across the Northwest.
About University of Puget Sound
A nationally ranked residential liberal arts college in Tacoma, Washington, University of Puget Sound enrolls 1,600 undergraduate students from across the country and around the world, as well as 250 graduate students in education, counseling, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and public health. A low student-faculty ratio provides Puget Sound students with personal attention from faculty members who have a strong commitment to teaching and offer 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 areas of study, including the Crime, Law, and Justice (CLJ) Interdisciplinary program. Puget Sound graduates include Rhodes and Luce scholars, notables in the arts and culture, scholars and scientists, entrepreneurs and elected officials, and leaders in business and finance locally and throughout the world. A top producer of Fulbright scholars, Puget Sound is the only nationally ranked independent liberal arts college in Western Washington, and one of just five independent colleges in the Northwest granted a charter by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society. As part of its commitment to expanding access to higher education, Puget Sound offers the first accredited bachelor’s degree program in a prison in Washington state.
About Seattle University School of Law
Seattle University School of Law is a mission-driven, diverse, and civically engaged law school, based in the heart of Seattle, offering a comprehensive legal education that goes beyond the classroom. Our students become lawyers and leaders with the practical skills, knowledge, and drive to make a real difference for their clients and their communities. Our practice-based curriculum features a renowned Legal Writing Program, a highly ranked clinical program, the Pacific Northwest’s only hybrid-online part-time program, and hundreds of learning opportunities around the globe. Seattle University’s Jesuit tradition infuses students’ legal education with a sense of purpose and a drive to action to cultivate leaders in law, throughout the nation and beyond, who serve justice.