A Utah lawmaker wants the state’s largest public university to have a law school.

The state has two law schools, one public and the other private, at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. But Republican Sen. Brady Brammer, who is also an attorney, thinks Utah’s growing population should have a third at Utah Valley University to meet the state’s demand.

Both BYU and the University of Utah have relatively modest law school class sizes compared to other states, graduating about 200 students combined last spring.

“We’re low on public defenders, we’re low on prosecutors, we’re low on agency attorneys,” Brammer told the Senate Education Committee Jan. 29. “Throughout the state, what we really have is a problem with a supply of attorneys.”

The Utah State Bar has said similar things about shortages in certain fields. Part of the problem, Brammer said, is that law firms are successfully picking up Utah attorneys. The American Bar Association said that in 2023, the number of new law graduates nationwide joining law firms was higher than ever.

Brammer’s resolution would direct the Orem-based university to study whether a law school is feasible. It would be housed at its Thanksgiving Point facilities in Lehi, which Brammer said is accessible from both Salt Lake and Utah counties.

Read the full story at KUER.org.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.