In a state where population and legal needs keep climbing, Utah lawmakers have taken the first formal step toward a third law school—voting to, if not build one, then at least think about building one. Last week, the state legislature introduced Senate Joint Resolution 8, a “Joint Resolution to Initiate a Law School at Utah Valley University.” If passed, the resolution would direct Utah Valley University to commission a comprehensive feasibility study.
Utah Needs More Lawyers
The text of the S.J.R.8 starts by painting a picture that aspiring Utah lawyers will not find surprising: Utah has grown, but its law school count has not. Since 1977, the state has relied on the same two ABA-accredited schools, the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. For half a century, these schools have single-handedly fed Utah’s courts, agencies, and law firms, even as the population is projected to hit 4.2 million by 2030.
Sen. Brady Brammer, the resolution’s sponsor, frames this as a supply‑demand problem: flat law school output meets the expanding need for legal work. Brammer also points to a labor market squeeze: counties, municipalities, and agencies are struggling to hire attorneys while national firms plant flags in Utah’s booming economy.
The resolution folds in that broader economic story, citing the state’s tech sector, business growth, and expanding government operations as drivers of “sustained demand for legal professionals.” So, even if legislators don’t care about whether pre‑law students have to go out of state for law school, they should certainly be concerned about who will be available to staff their city’s next land‑use fight.
Utah has recently addressed its lawyer shortage by creating an “Alternate Pathway to Attorney Licensure” program that allows law graduates to enter the profession without taking the traditional Uniform Bar Exam. Instead of a single high‑stakes test, the new route combines required skills coursework at an ABA‑approved law school with a state‑administered written assessment and hundreds of hours of supervised practice, aiming to turn out practice‑ready lawyers more efficiently while maintaining existing licensing standards.
But even a more flexible licensure system cannot fix a more basic bottleneck: there are still only so many seats in Utah’s two existing law schools. That’s where S.J.R.8 comes in.
A Part-Time Program at Thanksgiving Point
If Utah is getting a third law school, lawmakers already have a place in mind for where to test-drive it: Utah Valley University, specifically at UVU’s Thanksgiving Point campus in Lehi. Why? Purportedly, UVU’s existing mission and student body line up with what the resolution is trying to build. The school is the state’s largest public university, is explicitly focused on accessible, career‑oriented programs, and already serves many working professionals. These are the groups the resolution targets, as evidenced by its emphasis on “evening and weekend instruction” and “non‑traditional students.”
Brammer goes a step further in describing who he thinks will fill those hypothetical lecture halls: not full-time students, but “second‑career people” (think police officers, teachers, and court staff who cannot abandon full‑time jobs for a traditional 1L schedule). He characterizes the envisioned program as “more of a night‑and‑weekend type law school” that is unapologetically not competing for rankings but trying to “create attorneys to do the work that needs to be done throughout the state.” That’s a striking contrast to the way many law schools now market themselves, emphasizing elite credentials and the promise of prestige.
Geography also does some heavy lifting here. UVU already has modern facilities at Thanksgiving Point. Plus, this campus is located between the state’s two largest population centers (the Salt Lake City area to the north and Utah County to the south), where much of Utah’s legal market and many potential evening students are based. Using commercial office buildings that UVU already owns allows proponents to frame the idea as building on existing space rather than constructing a new law school campus from the ground up.
The Fine Print: A Funding Wrinkle
For all the aspirational language, S.J.R. 8 outlines a pretty tall order for UVU’s feasibility study.
The resolution requires the university to assess whether Thanksgiving Point facilities are sufficient and to determine faculty needs and recruitment plans. UVU must also map out student support like academics, bar prep, and career services. It is tasked with analyzing market demand and impacts on existing Utah law schools. It must also outline a path to provisional and full ABA accreditation with timelines, model tuition and financial aid against regional peers, and produce detailed five‑year operating and capital budget projections, including potential funding sources. That’s a lot.
On top of all that, though, there’s a notable funding wrinkle embedded in this framework. As the resolution explicitly notes, it doesn’t actually appropriate any money to make these requirements happen. At the same time, supporters have publicly cited a proposed $55,000 for the feasibility study, likely to be funded elsewhere in the state budget. This gap underscores that the measure is meant to launch planning, not immediately open a law school.
What Happens Next?
In the near term, S.J.R. 8 has a fairly straightforward path: it needs to clear the full Utah Senate, survive any amendments, and then repeat that journey in the House. Only after both chambers sign off and the governor adds a signature will UVU be formally tasked with conducting the feasibility study.
From there, the real work shifts from the Capitol to campus. UVU would have until November 30, 2026, to collect data, consult with the Utah Board of Higher Education and the ABA, model out finances and enrollment, and send back a detailed report to the Legislature. That report is what will ultimately set the stage for the next round of decisions: whether to move forward, scale back, or shelve the idea of a UVU law school altogether.
In other words, Utah’s third law school has a long way to go before it’s a done deal–and yet, it’s already giving out a lot of homework.
Related Resources:
- Utah Approves Alternate Pathway to Attorney Licensure That Bypasses Traditional Bar Exam (FindLaw’s Practice of Law)
- Legacy Admissions in Law Schools Are Slowly Being Eradicated (FindLaw’s Practice of Law)
- Cooley’s Close Call with the ABA (FindLaw’s Practice of Law)
