"[The analysis] shows that the increase in law will harm the Arts Faculty by taking away students from there."
A memorandum was sent by Professors of Law Peter Watts QC and Bruce Harris to a representative of the university's council before a meeting, on October 19, when the intake increase was due to be proposed.
The document included figures showing 83 per cent of students who did not get into Law in Part II - but who would be accepted if the intake was 500 students - went on to study at Auckland University still.
That percentage amounted to 141 students of the 170 who would have been rejected - meaning only 29 students decided to leave the university altogether.
"Providing they were conjoint students, this means that the other faculties would get 2.25 EFTS [equivalent full-time students] from each student over the course of their degree, which amounts to 65.25 EFTS in total. "However, at the same time, these other faculties would lose EFTS to law from the 141 students who would otherwise be doing full-time degrees in the other faculties,'' the document said.
Law Professor Watts said the idea of another intake increase in the next two years was a big concern for staff within the faculty.
"Whether there is a further increase to 500 in 2018 is still an open issue. That would be a more serious increase than the one that is to take place next year,'' he said.
"I think there's ongoing concern about the prospect of further increases."
Watts acknowledged one of the biggest problems for staff was making sure they had enough quality teachers in front of the classroom.
Another concern raised by Maori faculty members was the lack of consultation, given the change would lead to proportionately fewer Maori both in law school and later down the track, working in the legal profession.
"The main problem with it is the difficulties of recruiting top quality teachers in law means that there's a concern that the quality of the teaching of the basic compulsory course in the law degree will be adversely affected.''
Acknowledging how the new move could affect the university's world rankings, Watts said: "Some people think an increase in the size of the law school is likely to improve the ranking. But a lot of people - including myself - think that that's unlikely and in fact will harm the ranking.''
An Auckland University spokesman said the decision to increase the undergraduate intake at the law school would "open the way'' for more high-achieving school leavers keen to pursue a career in law.
The boost in numbers, which has not happened in more than 10 years, would also address the fact that Auckland's population had significantly expanded over the years.
And although a specific Maori and Pacific quota has not been revealed, the spokesman said the move would also allow for more places for those students under the university's Targeted Admissions Scheme.
"The Auckland Law School, which will continue to have the highest admission standards in the country, will significantly increase its number of full-time academic staff at the same time," the spokesman added.
"This will allow it to provide more small group and innovative teaching and will make the number of full-time academic staff more comparable to higher-ranked law schools such as Melbourne and Sydney. Auckland is the only New Zealand law school ranked among the top 50 in the world and this will help it become even higher ranked.
"Other faculties could also stand to benefit as 90 per cent of Auckland's law students take conjoint degrees (the most popular being the BA/LLB and the BCom/LLB) and many use their legal training and the skills of analysis and communication gained to succeed in a wide variety of other careers, including government, business and policy advice."
