PHOENIX - Arizona State University officials want to open a downtown Phoenix law school for working people seeking to earn a law degree through night classes.

The school's purpose would be to expand opportunities for legal education in the Valley, the country's only large metropolitan area without a part-time law school, said Patricia White, dean of the ASU College of Law.

"This Valley has a vibrant and sophisticated legal community," White said. "The Supreme Court is here, the state Capitol, members of the 9th Circuit (federal appeals court), several Indian tribes and some large, prominent firms.

"The general standard of lawyering is high," she said, "but there are few opportunities for people to get a legal education."

White noted that "night schools" have in some places acquired reputations as second-rate institutions. But a downtown Phoenix institution would be a division of ASU, featuring the same faculty and the same admission and academic requirements.

"This would definitely not be a place for lesser students," White said. "We're not going to do anything to this (ASU college) that doesn't make it better."

Ernest Calderon, head of the State Bar of Arizona, said Tuesday that he was surprised at the news but also pleased.

"I think this could be a very positive thing," he said. "So much of modern society is driven by the law, that the more educated we are in law the better off society seems to be.

"I think it could yield a good opportunity for working adults."

White said she hopes a feasibility study will be done by the fall. If ASU decides to proceed, the new division wouldn't open until the fall of 2005 "on the absolutely fastest track."

The major obstacle, she said, will likely be money. Law schools are expensive, White said, given demanding accreditation regulations and the high cost of creating a separate law library.

"We're in no position to take on something we can't afford, she said, "so a major factor will be how much the community wants to contribute to this project."