Gibes Aside, ‘Nessie’ Hunt to Be Resumed

After years of searching for the Loch Ness monster, Robert Rines was accustomed to snickers. But they grew to chuckles when he started his own law school--on a former stud farm.

“There were some comments,” Rines understated.

The bulls were gone by the time he risked his successful patent law practice in Boston to almost single-handedly start the school, a task usually undertaken by wealthy universities.

Rines chose a dilapidated building on the outskirts of the state capital. The building had gone from bull farm to girls finishing school to bankruptcy. Its stalls had been converted into tiny dormitory rooms.

“As I look back now, it was crazy, absolutely crazy, to think I could do it,” Rines said.

About 80 students were in the first class of the Franklin Pierce Law Center, in 1976. Now, the school has 400 students and this year’s graduating class numbered 120.

But Franklin Pierce will have to do without Rines as president. He retired in May, although he plans to remain as chairman of the board. At 69, he said he has other things to accomplish, including returning to Scotland to resume the hunt for Nessie. Robert Viles, the school’s dean, took over as president.

Trained as a scientist at MIT, Rines’ World War II scanning radar inventions were a precursor to the Patriot missile tracking system. He has been granted more than 60 patents, including one for a method to accelerate the growth of Atlantic salmon.

An accomplished pianist and composer, Rines has written the music for several plays and collaborated on the television presentation of “Hizzoner the Mayor,” which won an Emmy in 1987.

But nothing gained him more national attention than the start of his search for the Loch Ness monster two decades ago. In 1972, his expedition took underwater pictures using sophisticated photography and sonar techniques that showed images the team said were of the monster.

The search spawned a series of Doonesbury comic strips on “Nessie.”

Rines had more luck with his law school than his efforts to prove conclusively that the monster exists. The school is recognized as a leader in the field of intellectual property and patents.

In addition to teaching the customary criminal and civil law, it seeks to produce a new breed of lawyers out of scientists, doctors and engineers, and people familiar with the technology of those professions.

“Almost 30% of our students are scientifically trained in another discipline,” Rines said.

Rines said the breakthrough for the school in the patent field occurred when it helped launch China’s first patent system in 1985. The Chinese accepted his invitation to send government administrators to Concord for training.

In short order, government officials came from Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Africa and South America.

“We were the only school in the country offering anything like this,” he said.

The center also is home to the Academy of Applied Science, founded by Rines to bring business and government together to talk and solve technical business disputes quickly and economically, before they reach the courts.

Next year, Franklin Pierce will begin an exchange program with Oxford University in England.