In the fall of 2011, anyone interested in attending law school in the Metroplex will have a new option: The University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law.

The College of Law became official in June, when Gov. Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 956, which established the school and marked the official beginning of Dallas-Fort Worth’s first public law school. The two law schools currently in the Metroplex, at Texas Wesleyan University and Southern Methodist University, are both private schools.

The University of North Texas began preparing for a law school in the ’70s, when the university’s Denton campus library began purchasing law books for a collection that would one day fill a law school library, said Cynthia Hall, director of system and external affairs for the university.

Lee Jackson, chancellor of the University of North Texas system, said the law school will serve two purposes: Access for students in Dallas-Fort Worth and opportunities for students who can’t afford private school tuition.

“The D-FW area is the largest and most consistently growing economic region in Texas… so one of my points has been that Texas needs to support the growth of the D-FW economy while it tries to balance services and spread services throughout the state,” Jackson said. Texas “also needs to recognize and support the tremendous energy and dynamic growth and diversity of the economy here. And one of the core professional needs in a sophisticated, complex regional economy is legal education.”

[Fort Worth Business Press]