by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Twice in his life, Peter Goplerud looked down one of those diverging paths that would have led him away from the law.
The first was as an undergraduate at the University of Kansas when he took some courses leading to medical school.
“I realized that was going to be a disaster,” he said.
Goplerud stayed on at Kansas to earn a bachelor’s degree in English and a law degree.
While clerking for Kansas Supreme Court Justice David Prager he took a long look down the second path.
“Midway through my clerkship, before I started thinking seriously about academics, I had one opportunity I was ready to go with,” said Goplerud. “It was a position as an assistant attorney general in Micronesia.
“That would have diverted me considerably. Fortunately, I passed it up.”
Most of the books, certificates and photographs are still in their boxes, but Goplerud has already been busy for a couple weeks as the newest dean at Florida Coastal School of Law — far, far away from Micronesia.
He replaces interim Dean Dennis Stone, who is moving to Naples to be chief operating officer of Legal Education Holding Corp.
LEHC was formed by Florida Coastal’s new owner, Sterling Capital Partners. The corporation will build new schools or acquire existing ones in other major markets that it feels are being “underserved by the legal education industry.”
For the past six years, Goplerud was dean of the Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. His first legal education experience was at the University of Akron School of Law. He then served as faculty member, associate dean and dean at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Before taking the job at Drake, he was dean of the University of Oklahoma Law School at Norman.
Though they are separated by 1,240 miles — give or take — Florida Coastal and Drake share several goals, particularly the most important one, said Goplerud.
“Our mission here is, first and foremost, our students,” he said. “It is to prepare them as best as possible for when they enter the legal profession.
“That’s the culture and the mission that existed at Drake. And that’s part of what attracted me here.”
Since its founding, FCSL also has attracted professors who have a lot of “real world” experience. Goplerud is enthusiastic about building on that tradition.
“That’s a very important aspect of being able to fulfill the mission of preparing our students to enter the practice,” he said. “One of our faculty members has developed a general practice course for third-year students that would focus on the realities of starting, maintaining and managing small law firms. He’s going to do it based on his own experience.
“He’ll also use a couple of our other full-time faculty who have extensive practice experience . . . and use practitioners for lectures and other aspects of the program.
“That is the sort of thing very few law schools offer.”
In addition to teaching regular classes, one new faculty member will be primarily responsible for running the school’s bar preparation course.
“I believe a big part of our success comes from the attention that’s paid to bar preparation at this school,” said Goplerud. “It begins in the spring for the summer exam and in the fall for the winter exam. There are extra lectures and special programs that supplement the commercial bar review courses that every smart-thinking law student in the country takes.
“But, for instance, those commercial courses don’t start until the end of May for the July exam. We start in January and February.”
Drake University had about two dozen faculty instructing just over 40 full-time students last year; enrollment at FCSL was close to 900. The Florida Coastal faculty will total 40 for the fall semester.
“We will have at least 300 full-time equivalent students here in the fall, and it will be the strongest class we’ve ever had,” said Goplerud. “Including part-time, that translates into 300 students. But it may actually be higher than that. We won’t know until they actually walk through the door.”
It’s no secret to anyone that Florida Coastal has outgrown its location, formerly the home of individual business offices. Nor is it a secret that the school is being encouraged to move to a downtown location to help rejuvenate the area.
“We are actively exploring alternatives,” said Goplerud. “That’s my message to the students on opening day. They know they’re jammed in here. We’re going to let them know that we know — and that we’re doing something about it.
“I want as quickly as possible to have people see movement of one sort or another, whether it’s people in hard hats constructing something or plans being drawn.
“But we know there’s a need. No doubt.”
Wherever a new school is built or bought, it will take into account continued enrollment growth ... and the needs of the students.
“Any plan we do, any development of a new facility that is done, will certainly be done with a long-term look,” said Goplerud. “There will be a comprehensive look at how we can be in a space that best relates to the students so that it creates the best student-centered experiences.
“Just the sheer volume is going to require adequate space planning.”