Because of its partnership with Penn State, the Dickinson School of Law is expecting to receive an increase of admissions applications this year, even while law schools around the country are facing a decline, Dickinson's dean said yesterday.

Dickinson Dean Philip McCon-naughay said the law school was expecting to receive 3,000 applications this year -- about 500 more than it received last year.

McConnaughay said Penn State's investments in the law school are catching the attention of applicants. He added this might be why Dickinson's numbers are up despite the national decline.

"Students and applicants around the nation are aligning us more closely with Penn State," McConnaughay said. "Because of our outreach, publicity and prominent faculty, students are increasingly aware that good things are happening at Penn State's law school."

Admissions officials at the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University are expecting about 60 to 80 first-year law students to take classes at University Park in the upcoming fall semester and are unsure about whether second- or third-year students would join them. Dickinson School of Law spokeswoman Kelly Jones said about 10 to 15 permanent Dickinson faculty would be teaching classes at University Park this fall.

"We're still determining if second- and third-year courses will be available to a moderate number of students," Jones said. She added Dickinson would have all the necessary student services in place for the fall semester, such as a registrar's office, to support students in University Park.

Construction on the law school at University Park will not be completed until 2008, Richard Tennent, Office of the Physical Plant senior project manager, said. It will be located north of Park Avenue, adjacent to the Penn State Arboretum.

The total cost for the construction of the law school at University Park is $60 million, Gary Schultz, senior vice president for finance and business, said. He added the project would be funded under the university's capital plan.

"It's in design now, and it will be in design until about November 2006," Tennent said. "In early 2007, we'll start construction."

Tennent added students would use temporary facilities in Beam Business Administration Building in the fall.

"When we have the new building in 2008, we'll have three classes ready to move in, instead of one," Jones said.

Barbara Guillaume, director for law admissions at Dickinson, said applicants to the law school could check a box on their application to indicate if they wanted to be considered for the University Park campus. She said there was not a significant difference between those wanting to study at Dickinson's campus in Carlisle and the campus at University Park.

"It's running pretty even between the two campuses," she said. "About one out of every two request University Park."

Adam Orlacchio, a 2005 graduate of Susquehanna University, originally applied to several law schools, including Dickinson, for the 2005-06 academic year.

After being put on Dickinson's wait list, he chose to take a year off from academics and work as a paralegal. Orlacchio said he recently reapplied to Dickinson for the 2006-07 academic year and hopes to be among the first students taking law classes at University Park.

Orlacchio said he thought it would be advantageous to attend classes at University Park because of the opportunities to establish connections with Penn State alumni.

"By going to school at University Park, you increase your chances of meeting a Penn State alumni who may be able to help you get your foot in the door in the legal field," he said.

Jones said that after the students' first year was completed at University Park, they would have the option to move to the Carlisle campus.

"They start in one location, but after that, it's wherever they choose," Jones said, adding that students would be able to take classes broadcast via teleconference from one location to the other if they wanted.

Orlacchio said he doesn't think he would transfer from University Park.

"As long as things went well for me the first year, then I wouldn't see any reason to leave," he said. "I would definitely stay all three years, as long as I thought I was being prepared to pass the bar."