Can there be too many (innovative) law schools?

This week's National Law Journal has this lengthy and interesting article, titled "A Deluge of Law Schools: As Many as 10 Are in the Works — But Are They Needed?".  Here is an excerpt, which highlights the innovation potential in these developments: 

As many as 10 new law schools are in the works, with the majority of them proposed in the eastern part of the country. While their proponents insist that the schools will serve the needs of their communities and beyond, the plans are drawing sharp criticism from those who argue that creating more law schools is irresponsible....

Planners assert that their schools will offer specialized programs and innovative curricula to J.D. hopefuls. Critics, however, point to a tight job market and starting salaries that do not cover the ballooning costs of tuition for the majority of students already graduating from the nation's hundreds of law schools.

"I have no doubt that those concerns are valid, but it's whether they end up being compelling reasons to pull back on starting a law school," said Loren D. "Chip" Prescott Jr. He is the newly appointed dean of the Wilkes University Law School Planning Initiative, which is pushing to open a law school in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., by 2010....

Prescott cited a number of reasons to launch a law school in Pennsylvania. First, the closest law school to the area is a two-hour drive away, he said.  Second, he sees a need for creative, hands-on training absent in legal education today.  Third, a "brand new school," he said, can provide such innovation more readily than older schools constricted by outmoded traditions. "A school starting from scratch can make a unique contribution," he said.

If new schools are serious about making a "unique contribution" to legal education, my reaction is "the more, the merrier."  But because there are already, in my view, far too many law schools "constricted by outmoded traditions," I hope only those schools with a serious commitment to innovation will get off the ground.