The Law School earlier this month began an $8 million redesign of Slaughter Hall in an effort to expand office space for the school's 20 legal clinics and create more accessible student spaces.
Preliminary design work for the project began Jan. 3. Construction will last until early August, Assistant Dean for Building Services Greg Streit said in an email.
"The renovation will allow for better service to prospective students, current students, and alumni," Streit said. "It will also increase the space available to our legal clinics, which have grown significantly over the past decade."
Slaughter Hall currently houses classrooms, administrative offices and offices for student organizations, according to the Law School website.
The construction will make it easier for students to use student services the Law School offers by facilitating access to various offices in the building, according to a Law School press release.
A two-story atrium with ample reception space will house the admissions, financial aid and graduate studies offices on the bottom floor, and career services, the public service center and clerkships at the top. These offices will be "grouped around a central reception area just around the corner from interview and video conference rooms," according to the press release.
Keith Donovan, senior assistant dean for career services at the Law School, said the new design will allow students to use Law School spaces more efficiently.
"Students [will be] able to get any information they need to," Donovan said. "I think it will also facilitate collaboration amongst the offices."
Streit said some renovation will take place through May 20, but most of the construction work is scheduled for after graduation to reduce any potential inconvenience to students and administrators.
"There will be some minor inconveniences: possibly some construction noise, reduced visitor parking," Streit said. "The process of moving some administrative functions to temporary space may cause some challenges and possibly some confusion, but we are working to minimize potential problems."
The project must be complete by early August, Streit said, because administrators who may be temporarily displaced during construction need to conduct on-Grounds interviews the second week of August.
The project is funded largely by Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce M. Karsh, both of whom graduated from the Law School in the 1980s.
"I am very grateful for the donors who made this possible," Donovan said. "The new space will be terrific for admissions and for existing students. A lot of students are going to benefit"
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