N.C. State's business school and Campbell University's law school are teaming up to offer a dual law and MBA degree.

Starting this fall, students can earn the dual degree in four years. The universities are seeking to attract more students amid increasing competition from other schools with business and law degrees, including UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University.

"Students in the dual program will be well prepared for careers in business, finance, law, government, nonprofit organizations, teaching and research," said Steve Allen, associate dean for graduate programs at N.C. State's Poole College of Management.

The degree will cost $106,265 for in-state students. That will save a student more than $24,000 and a year of study, compared with getting both degrees separately.

N.C. State doesn't offer a law degree and Campbell has been expanding its law school, including by relocating the campus to downtown Raleigh in Sept. 2009.

"Law is a gateway degree, opening up many doors and careers," said Melissa Essary, dean of Campbell's law school. "If coupled with a great MBA degree, this gateway is widened considerably."

The recession has been particularly unkind to the legal profession, where a combination of lost public sector jobs and consolidated private firm services has created a job vacuum.

This hasn't been good news for the hundreds of new lawyers streaming out of North Carolina law schools over the last few years.

As I report today, the job market for new lawyers is still lagging, as is the market for summer jobs for current law school students.

It's bad enough that one local law school dean recently sent an email plea to his alumni asking them for help finding jobs. Even those that don't pay anything.

I'm guessing this story will prompt a great deal of tut-tut-tutting about how there are too many lawyers. This is actually quite hard to gauge. The industry itself doesn't have a distinct way to measure market saturation, and law schools say they don't restrict enrollment when times get tough because of the lag time between when a student starts law school and when he or she graduates.

It's a three-year journey, and a lot can happen to an economy, good or bad, in that time.

Some more odds and ends from the recent "Best Colleges" issue of U.S. News & World Report, which came out earlier this week with representation from plenty of area colleges.

High Point University ranked 3rd among comprehensive colleges in the south, up 2 spots from the previous year. High Point has climbed that ladder steadily; four years ago, it occupied the 15 spot.

And Campbell University was ranked among 87 schools in the First Tier Regional Universities (South) category. There are 572 universities in several tiers of that ranking.

Campbell University may start a new college of osteopathic medicine.

University trustees have approved a feasibility study and hope to decide by next May.

If approved, the new professional school would enroll its first class in August 2013.

The university has been studying the idea for a while, and trustees have approved funding for a dean, consultants, architectural planners and other resources.

Osteopathic physicians are licensed doctors who take a holistic, hands-on, patient-centered approach and work to eliminate obstacles so the body can heal itself.

Though more than 800 osteopathic doctors practice in North Carolina, this would be the state's first school for osteopathic medicine, according to Campbell officials.

Nationwide, there are about 55,000 licensed osteopathic doctors, and about 4,000 more enter the workforce each year, according to this fact sheet from the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
 

North Raleigh linebacker among Camel recruits.

In less than two months, Raleigh will have its first law school.

Campbell University is putting the final touches on its new law school facility, which is moving from the university's bucolic Buies Creek main campus to the hustle and bustle of the capital city.

The university is spending $15 million to renovate a downtown facility, and classes are expected to start there Sept. 14.

Read more here.

The pharmacy school at Campbell University has a new name.

It is now the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, a change designed to more accurately reflect the university's desire to educate both pharmacists and other health sciences professionals, according to a university press release.

Campbell is now planning new health sciences programs, including a master's in physician assistant studies that begins in 2011.

The Campbell University School of Pharmacy was established in 1986. It is located on Campbell's Buies Creek campus, but additional courses are offered at its department of clinical research in Research Triangle Park.

Applications are up 25 percent at Campbell University's law school, and officials there say they have downtown Raleigh to thank for it.

Campbell is moving its law school from Buies Creek to a new headquarters in downtown Raleigh, a new facility opening this fall. Law school officials say the draw of an urban law school experience is leading to far more applicants.

"Today's students want to be in an urban environment where they can gain experience and see the law in action," said Lewis Hutchison, assistant dean for admissions, in this recent news release. "Being within walking distance of the state legislature, appellate courts, state agencies and dozens of law firms and corporate offices means our students will be able to do both."

The law school will be at 225 Hillsborough Street. The 109,000-square-foot building offers 40 percent more space than the previous law school home on the Buies Creek campus.

The law school at Campbell University, which is slated to relocate from the Buies Creek campus to Raleigh later this year, has announced plans for a clinic catering to low-income senior citizens.

 The clinic, slated to open during the 2009-10 school year, will provide experience for law students while serving senior citizens in the greater Raleigh area, according to a university press release.

Dubbed the "Campbell Senior Law Clinic," the operation will be led by an attorney specializing in elder law and will help low-income seniors who might not otherwise be able to afford an attorney.

It will focus on wills, power of attorney, guardianship, abuse and neglect, housing, consumer fraud and other issues pertinent to seniors.

Cases will be generated through referrals and a partnership with Legal Aid of North Carolina, according to the Campbell press release.

  The clinic is funded in part by a $150,000 gift from Progress Energy.