Touro Law Update

Here's another take on the possible sale of Touro Law School to Stony Brook from today's New York Law Journal:

Should acquisition talks begun a few weeks ago between officials of Stony Brook University in Southampton and Touro Law Center result in an agreement, the Long Island law campus could become part of the State University of New York system this summer, according to state Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, R-Port Jefferson, chairman of the Higher Education Committee.

"If negotiations between now and June succeed, Stony Brook could literally take the Touro flag down and put their flag up," he said yesterday in a phone interview.

Touro Law, a private institution established in 1980, moved in 2006 to a brand new $33 million facility in Central Islip as part of a comprehensive law campus that includes state and federal courthouses.

Acquiring an existing law school - well-housed and accredited by the American Bar Association - would be far easier than ambitions announced last year by officials at SUNY Binghamton to establish a law school on its campus.

Mr. LaValle, a Touro Law alumnus who has played a role in developing environmental studies at SUNY Stony Brook, said talks with Touro began due to parallel academic focus: community planning and the environmental programs.

Matters subject to negotiation between the two institutions, Mr. LaValle said, involve appraisals of both campuses, state appropriations and bonding methodology, and a tax support formula to support operating costs in converting a private law school with a current tuition rate of about $34,000 annually down to about $13,000 - the rate of tuition at the University at Buffalo Law School, already part of the SUNY system.

Mr. LaValle said the "floor price" for Stony Brook's acquisition of Touro Law would be $34 million, but "I have no clue as to the ceiling price."