The Faculty Lounge

Call for Help: Borrower Defense to Repayment at For-Profit Law Schools

As some of you may have heard or read, a preliminary settlement in the case of Sweet v. Cardona has created the possibility that many former students of predatory for-profit colleges and Universities will receive loan forgiveness from the Department of Education.  The list of schools for which former students may be eligible for relief includes four for-profit law schools: the three former InfiLaw schools (Florida Coastal School of Law, Charlotte School of Law and Arizona Summit Law School), all of which are now closed, and Western State University College of Law, which has changed ownership and is now Western State College of Law at Westcliff University.  (See list of other eligible schools here.)   (Full disclosure - I taught at Western State from 2005-2010. This is well before the period when Western State was alleged to have defrauded any students, and I am not aware of any malfeasance that occurred while I was there.)

 The Plaintiffs in the case had sued the Department of Education for failing to process or unfairly denying their borrower defense to repayment applications.  Under the settlement, students at these schools who were part of the class action will receive full relief from their federal loan indebtedness.  The settlement also allows borrowers who were not part of the class to file a borrower defense application seeking relief.  I am working with a group of Florida Coastal alumni and former students who are trying to get the word out to other alumni and former students (including those who did not graduate) about this program and encourage them to apply while they still can get favorable consideration (before the final settlement is approved by the Court).  Former students who took out federal loans to attend can apply for full or partial discharge of their loans and may also be eligible for refunds of amounts paid and credit repair services.  For those borrowers who are not already part of the class, their applications must explain how they were financially harmed by the school due to misrepresentations by the school.    These misrepresentations could relate to employment rates or prospects and earnings potential, institutional selectivity rates or rankings and admissions information, availability about or nature of financial assistance available, availability of educational resources, bar passage rates, or any other false, misleading or deceptive information that induced a student to enroll or stay at a school.

So where do The Faculty Lounge readers come in?  First, please help spread the word to potential beneficiaries of this program and encourage them to apply.  They have nothing to lose.  Apply here. Second, if you are a former faculty member or employee of any of these schools, or are otherwise personally aware of any misrepresentations, or fraudulent or deceptive practices engaged in by these schools, now would be the perfect time to come forward and share what you know, and potentially help students with mountains of debt.  The applicants may believe that they have been misled or deceived, but it is difficult to prove without direct evidence or independent corroboration.  There have been many efforts to sue InfiLaw Schools under various theories of fraud, but InfiLaw has been very successful at fending off these lawsuits before they ever got to the discovery stage, so there is very little hard evidence in the public domain that the applicants can use to bolster their applications.

I am assisting FCSL students pro bono in gathering this information, so if you have any useful insights you could share about how these schools used misleading information to recruit and retain students, please contact me at [email protected].  Your information will remain confidential unless you authorize the information to be shared.  If you have other suggestions or tips for applicants, please place them in the comments.  Thank you. 

ABA Names Jennifer Rosato Perea Managing Director of Accreditation and Legal Education

The ABA has announced that Jennifer Rosato Perea will serve as the Managing Director of Accreditation and Legal Education. Rosato Perea currently serves as the dean of DePaul College of Law.  She will assume her new position on June 1. 

That's the newsy part.  But this is especially exciting for me - and folks at the Drexel Kline School of Law.  Jenn and I were among the first faculty hired in 2005 to start what was then the Drexel College of Law.   She was named interim dean shortly before the law school opened and was a superb leader through the birth of the law school and our process of initial ABA accreditation.  I can't imagine a person better situated to understand the diversity of issues that face law schools than Jenn.  And putting aside the practical part, Jenn is the best of human beings.   What good news for all of us in the law school world!

Concord Law School Officially Renamed Purdue Global Law School

Concord Law School - the online law school started in the days of Kaplan - has been renamed Purdue Global Law School effective November 8.  More details can be found here. I'll be curious to see whether Purdue will begin moves toward ABA accreditation. 

New Mexico Law Seeks Natural Resources and Environmental Law Faculty

This just in:

The University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Law invites applications for one tenure-track or tenured position to teach in our Natural Resources and Environmental Law (NREL) Program to begin in Fall 2024. We seek candidates with scholarly distinction or promise, as well as a commitment to excellence in teaching. 

The successful candidate will ensure that we continue to graduate environmental lawyers who serve the state, United States, and world. The UNM School of Law strives to prepare students to participate in the key decisions that affect the environment, either as employees within various federal, state, tribal and local agencies who have regulatory authority over natural resources and the environment, or with the private entities and nonprofit organizations that appear before them. The School of Law offers a variety of NREL courses, focusing on issues of natural resource management, environmental justice, energy and climate, and environmental issues involving indigenous peoples and tribes. 

We highly value candidates from diverse backgrounds and perspectives as we work toward enriching our students’ learning and enhancing the faculty’s academic mission of research, teaching, service, and community engagement in New Mexico, the United States, and the world. Women, underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, people who attended law school later in their careers, people from rural origins, first‐generation college graduates, veterans, and groups historically marginalized in American life are encouraged to apply. 

More information about the NREL Program, Certificate, Journal, and Clinic may be found here: https://lawschool.unm.edu/natres-envlaw/index.html. Additional information about the University of New Mexico School of Law may be found here: http://lawschool.unm.edu/about/index.html. 

All applicants should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and list of references to the University of New Mexico Jobs website: https://unmjobs.unm.edu/. This position is listed as requisition number 26484. For best consideration, please apply by September 25, 2023. Professor Maryam Ahranjani, chair of the appointments committee, welcomes inquiries at [email protected] or 505-277-2113.

Twinette Johnson named Dean at UDC

Congratulations to Dean Johnson! Read the entire press release here.

UGA Law Seeks New Faculty for Emerging Scholars Program

This just in:

The University of Georgia School of Law invites applications to join our future law teachers’ program as a Limited Term Assistant or Associate Professor. Positions will begin August 2023 or January 2024, and are limited to two academic years. We welcome candidates with a J.D. who are applying directly from legal practice or from non-traditional professional careers in the legal field. A demonstrated interest in teaching a core course (e.g., any first-year course, criminal procedure, evidence, corporations, bankruptcy, or tax) is preferred. Diversifying faculty is an important strategic goal.

Applicants must be committed to producing world-class scholarship, providing first-rate legal training and engaging in meaningful service. Teaching two courses per academic year will be expected, beginning in the second semester of residence and after consultation with the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. Interest in pursuing a full-time, permanent job in legal academia and active participation in the Law School’s mentorship and faculty development program will be required.

All applications will be considered until the position is filled. Interested persons should submit a letter of interest and curriculum vitae/resume at https://www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/306433.

The University of Georgia is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity or national origin, religion, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Persons needing accommodations or assistance with the accessibility of materials related to this search are encouraged to contact Central HR [email protected]. Please do not contact the department or search committee with such requests.

Symposium Announcement—“Deeply Rooted”: Discussing the Aftermath of Dobbs 3/9

“Deeply Rooted”: Discussing the Aftermath of Dobbs

March 9, 2023

University of Tennessee College of Law

The majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, holding that the right to abortion was not "deeply rooted in our nation's history or traditions." The dissent disagreed, stating that the right to abortion is essential to the guarantees of liberty and equality.  For the past 50 years, the right to abortion has deeply shaped the lives and choices of individuals and families.  This symposium will explore the aftermath of Dobbs, a decision that has uprooted the nation’s understanding of privacy and autonomy.  The symposium is sponsored by the Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice at the University of Tennessee College of Law.  

Each panel will discuss a specific impact of the Dobbs opinion and the people affected.  We will examine the legal analysis in Dobbs and its impact on constitutional law, including rights previously recognized by the Supreme Court under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.  We will discuss the impact of Dobbs on access to health care and on the medical profession, as well as the impact on marginalized communities.  Finally, we will analyze the consequences for citizens of Tennessee in the  post-Dobbs world, where abortion is now illegal.

Speakers include legal scholars, legal and medical professionals, and advocates in Tennessee.  Professor Mary Ziegler, a leading expert in the legal history of abortion, will give the keynote address, “Canary in a Coal Mine: What Does it Mean to Lose a Constitutional Right?”

We hope that this symposium will spur a critical conversation about the role of this landmark case in shifting the legal landscape surrounding civil rights. We invite you to attend either in person or virtually via Zoom.  To register, visit: https://forms.gle/C8JSjMUjTMqeZeFo6

Schedule after the fold.

Penn State President Recommends Reunification of Its Two Law Schools

The world goes round.  Neeli Bendapudi, Penn State's president,  is recommending that the university reverse the previous decision to separate its two law school campuses in to two separately ABA accredited schools and instead merge them back into one.  The plan is for the new school to become Penn State Dickinson Law - based primarily in Carlisle.  It will be lead by Penn State Dickinson Law's current dean, Danielle Conway - and based on the recommendation, Penn State University Park is canceling its dean search.  Deets here.  

Wilmington U. Starting a Law School; Closius Named Dean

Wilmington University in Delaware plans to open a law school in Fall 2023.  The school's dean will be Phil Closius who previously served as dean at Toledo Law and Baltimore Law.  

 

Jacksonville Law Launches with Nick Allard as Dean, 14 1L's

That was quick.  Jacksonville University's new law school has opened its doors.  

An Inauspicious Start for America's Newest Law School

As noted on this site back in March, Jacksonville University announced that it is planning to open a new law school.  What was unusual about this announcement was that when JU made it, it announced that it was going to open the law school  in under 6 months with a fall entering class starting the first week of August.  (The typical timeline for opening a new law school after a public announcement is 3 years.)  JU announced that it was planning to enroll 30 students in its inaugural fall class.  Later in March, JU announced a Dean search and posted a hiring announcement seeking 5 inaugural faculty to teach the incoming 1L class.  I live and practice in Jacksonville and have been attempting to follow developments at the new law school. (Full disclosure: I applied to be the Dean.  I didn't get an interview.)  I regularly check the school's website and otherwise scour the internet for information about the school, but so far, there has been very little information released publicly about the school.  The website has only the barest information on it, with no information at all about the administration, faculty and staff.  Through various sources, I have learned the following:  the school has reached an agreement with an inaugural Dean and five faculty members, but they are not yet formally under contract.  

I know who the new Dean is, but the school says that they are planning to announce the Dean soon, so I won't steal their thunder by announcing it here.  Suffice it to say that s/he is an experienced and respected former Dean.  I also know that at least two of the new faculty members were tenured full professors recruited from other law schools.   But who will they be teaching?  The school appears to have fallen well short of their admissions goal of 30 (later amended to 20-30) students.  As of the end of May, they had seat deposits from only about 10 students and were hoping to get a few more after the June LSAT results came out.   I can't think of any other law school to start with such a small entering class in the past 25 years.  The only one that came close to such a small class was Indiana Tech, which shut down in its 4th year of operation when all the graduates of its first graduation class failed the bar (one of those students appealed and was later passed).  Hopefully, Jacksonville University College of Law has chosen quality over quantity for its inaugural entering class.  But it is not clear who is making admissions decisions or setting admissions policy.  ABA Standards require the Dean and faculty to make admissions decisions, but there was no Dean or faculty in place when these students were admitted.   The school has also published a student handbook and curriculum, again without input from the non-existent law school faculty, another violation of ABA Standards.  Another unusual aspect of the new law school is that it has no law library (yet another violation).  The school is reportedly planning to use a public law library downtown initially.  While there has been some hints that JU will build a dedicated law school building, the school will initially offer classes in a downtown office building where JU currently rents some space.  

I am hopeful that the new Dean will move quickly to improve the transparency of what is going at the new school and bring the school into compliance with ABA Standards.   With less than three weeks to go until orientation, s/he has his or her hands full if the school is to have a successful launch.  As a member of the Jacksonville legal community, I am pulling for the law school to succeed.  Stay tuned for further updates.

 

 

 

An Inauspicious Start for America's Newest Law School

As noted on this site back in March, Jacksonville University announced that it is planning to open a new law school.  What was unusual about this announcement was that when JU made it, it announced that it was going to open the law school  in under 6 months with a fall entering class starting the first week of August.  (The typical timeline for opening a new law school after a public announcement is 3 years.)  JU announced that it was planning to enroll 30 students in its inaugural fall class.  Later in March, JU announced a Dean search and posted a hiring announcement seeking 5 inaugural faculty to teach the incoming 1L class.  I live and practice in Jacksonville and have been attempting to follow developments at the new law school. (Full disclosure: I applied to be the Dean.  I didn't get an interview.)  I regularly check the school's website and otherwise scour the internet for information about the school, but so far, there has been very little information released publicly about the school.  The website has only the barest information on it, with no information at all about the administration, faculty and staff.  Through various sources, I have learned the following:  the school has reached an agreement with an inaugural Dean and five faculty members, but they are not yet formally under contract.  I know who the new Dean is, but the school says that they are planning to announce the Dean soon, so I won't steal their thunder by announcing it here.  Suffice it to say that s/he is an experienced and respected former Dean.  I also know that at least two of the new faculty members were tenured full professors recruited from other law schools.   But who will they be teaching?  The school appears to have fallen well short of their admissions goal of 30 (later amended to 20-30) students.  As of the end of May, they had seat deposits from only about 10 students and were hoping to get a few more after the June LSAT results came out.   I can't think of any other law school to start with such a small entering class in the past 25 years.  The only one that came close to such a small class was Indiana Tech, which shut down in its 4th year of operation when all the graduates of its first graduation class failed the bar (one of those students appealed and was later passed).  Hopefully, Jacksonville University College of Law has chosen quality over quantity for its inaugural entering class.  But it is not clear who is making admissions decisions or setting admissions policy.  ABA Standards require the Dean and faculty to make admissions decisions, but there was no Dean or faculty in place when these students were admitted.   The school has also published a student handbook and curriculum, again without input from the non-existent law school faculty, another violation of ABA Standards.  Another unusual aspect of the new law school is that it has no law library.  The school is reportedly planning to use a public law library downtown initially.  While there has been some hints that JU will build a dedicated law school building, the school will initially offer classes in a downtown office building where JU currently rents some space.   I am hopeful that the new Dean will move quickly to improve the transparency of what is going at the new school and bring the school into compliance with ABA Standards.   With less than three weeks to go until orientation, s/he has his or her hands full if the school is to have a successful launch.  As a member of the Jacksonville legal community, I am pulling for the law school to succeed.  Stay tuned for further updates.

 

 

 

Law Schools Miss the Mark on Bar Passage - Will the ABA Act?

I promised to provide a bar passage update when this year’s bar passage reports came out, and they are available.  You can access the individual school reports here. You can access the all-school compilations here at the ABA Statistics Page.

As a reminder, the ABA bar passage standard, Standard 316, requires that law schools attain an “Ultimate Bar Passage” (UBP) rate of 75% within two years of graduation.  The most recent reported results are for the class of 2019, the graduates of which had until the July 2021 bar exam to pass the bar.   So far, the ABA has found only three schools to be out of compliance with Standard 316, so let’s start by reviewing the results at those schools.

2021 Admissions and Bar Pass Update

In light of dramatic improvements in admissions standards at formerly exploitative schools, combined with several of the worst offenders going out of business, last year I abandoned my perennial bottom 10 list of the least selective law schools.  Things continued to improve for the fall entering class of 2021.  Thanks in large part to record numbers of applications, most law schools were able to raise the entrance credentials of their entering classes. Indeed, most did so while also raising the size of their entering class as well.  

Although the overall trend has been positive, with far fewer underqualified students being admitted, there was still one law school in 2020 that I found to have concerning admissions practices - Southern University.   In 2020, Southern's admitted student LSAT credentials were the worst in the country at 146/144/143  for the 75th, 50th and 25th percentile.  The good news is that Southern significantly raised its standards this year.  This years' LSATs are 149/146/144.  The bad news is that Southern is still the least selective law school in the country, by a fairly considerable margin.  The two closest competitors are North Carolina Central at 153/147/145 and Appalachian at 152/147/146.  (Yes, two or three LSAT points make a big difference, especially at this level.)  And the UGPAs for Southern's students are also concerning at 3.39/3.03/2.72.   For comparison, North Carolina Central's entering 1L class had UGPAs of 3.53/3.27/2.99, a significant difference.     The average college GPA these days is 3.15, and closer to 3.25 for social science and humanities majors (e.g. most law students).  Anything below 3.0 typically places a student in the bottom third of the class.   A 2.7 UGPA is downright awful. 

As I have noted many times in the past, students with very low entrance credentials (low test scores and low grades) are at high risk of attrition or of failing the bar after graduation.  Southern had a worrying 63.2% first-time pass rate in 2019.   Fortunately for Southern, most of their 2020 graduates didn't have to take the bar - they were granted diploma privilege.  But for the dozen first-time bar exam takers who went out of state, the pass rate was predictably poor - 41.66%  (5 out of 12).  In comparison, North Carolina Central, which historically has prepared its students very well for the bar exam, had a first-time pass rate of 79.3% across 13 different jurisdictions with an excellent 81.8% first-time pass rate in North Carolina, where the majority of NCC students took the exam. 

Bar Passage

Law schools are required to submit their bar passage data for calendar year 2021 later this week (by March 31, 2021).  Once the numbers come out, I will provide an update on any interesting trends.  As a reminder of the importance of admissions standards and how admissions standards impact bar performance, see this post from last year.   

I am particularly interested to see the numbers from Western Michigan (formerly Cooley). Western Michigan has already failed to make the UBP standard four years running:  class of 2015 - 69.75%, class of 2016 - 69.0%, class of 2017 - 66.0%, and class of 2018 - 62.3%.   It is very likely that the class of 2019 will also fall short, as that class had a first-time pass rate of 35.8%.  In May 2020, Western Michigan was found by the ABA to be significantly out of compliance with Standard 316, but there has been no public notice of any further action by the ABA since then.  Although Western Michigan has now raised its admission standards to an acceptable level, the fallout from many years of unacceptably low admission standards continues and likely will for another two years.  If the UBP standard (Standard 316) is to have any teeth at all, the ABA must do something to Western Michigan to penalize the school for its many years of unethical admissions practices leading to repeated bar failures.  A most fitting penalty would be some form of refund to those students who graduated but have never been able to pass the bar after two or more attempts. 

New Law Schools Coming Soon in Jacksonville and High Point; Jacksonville Seeks Dean

After a bit of a lull, we are seeing a couple of universities creating new law schools.  Jacksonville University in Florida plans to open a downtown law school this fall, with the help of a $5 million contribution from the city. The University is searching for a dean.  Jacksonville was previously home to Florida Coastal Law School.   Meanwhile, High Point University in North Carolina announced it will open a law school starting in 2024.  

Law Professor Named Interim Chancellor

Andy Klein, law professor (and former dean) at Indiana University's Robert H. McKinney School of Law, has been named interim university chancellor (beginning March 1).  You can read the law school's announcement here.

 

 

InfiLaw - The End of An Era (and good riddance)

This fall, for the first time in 25 years, Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, FL will not enroll any new students.  The small crop of continuing second and third year law students are completing their degrees at other law schools under an ABA-approved teach out plan.  Florida Coastal was unable to continue to operate after being denied federal student loan funding by the Department of Education.  Florida Coastal was already struggling to enroll enough students to stay in operation after multiple sanctions by the ABA in recent years.  Enrollment dropped from a high of 671 1Ls and 1742 JD students overall in 2011 to just 87 1ls and 184 total JD enrollment in 2019, a drop of nearly 90%. 

Florida Coastal’s demise makes it the third and final InfiLaw School to fail, following on the heels of Charlotte Law (shut down in 2017 after being placed on probation by the ABA and losing federal student-loan funding) Arizona Summit (shut down in 2018 after losing ABA accreditation).

This ignominious ending could have been averted, had Florida Coastal adopted the turnaround plan I attempted to put forward in April 2014 when I was a finalist to be the Dean there.  Instead, the President of the school infamously threw me out (see here), and the rest, as they say, is history.  Although Dean Scott DeVito later tried to implement much of what I had recommended, his efforts ultimately proved to be too little and too late to save the school.  Dean DeVito resigned two years ago this week when he concluded that InfiLaw was not willing to invest sufficiently in the school to enable it to be successful.

The closure of Florida Coastal not only is the end of the InfiLaw era, but may herald the end of the for-profit ABA law school era.  At one point, there were half a dozen for-profit law schools, including the three InfiLaw schools, plus a couple other proprietary schools that acted very much like for-profits.  But after Western State University affiliated with Westcliff University, and its former sister school Thomas Jefferson converted to a state-accredited school (Thomas Jefferson was supposedly a not-for-profit, but operated like a for-profit), Atlanta's John Marshall converted to non-profit status and Thomas Cooley became part of Western Michigan University (Cooley also theoretically was a not-profit, but nevertheless generated huge revenues as the largest law school in the country for many years), the only ABA-approved law school still operating as a for-profit entity is Charleston School of Law.  Charleston's owners have repeatedly publicly announced their intent to convert to non-profit status, but as far as I can tell, there has been no formal application to the ABA to change its status.   Charleston would be well-advised to proceed with this plan and focus on raising the quality of their admitted students.

If this is the end of the for-profit law school era, few in legal academia will miss it.  Although I have long opined that a for-profit law school could theoretically operate in an ethical manner (for example, I believe that Western State did for several years), the need to generate profits seemed to drive many of these for-profit schools to admit large numbers of poorly qualified students.  Indeed, the for-profit schools were frequently among the least selective law schools in the country and were fixtures in my Bottom 10 Law School lists.  The admission of unqualified students led to high attrition, low bar pass rates and declining reputations, which made it even harder to attract qualified students. This unvirtuous cycle ultimately proved to be the downfall of several of these schools.

With the demise of Florida Coastal, Jacksonville is now the largest city by population in the country with no law school,  (Jacksonville ranks 13th nationally with a city population of 930,000) and one of only two top 50 MSAs without a law school, the other being Charlotte, NC, former home of InfiLaw sister school Charlotte Law.  (Jacksonville is the 39th largest MSA at 1.6 million. Charlotte is the 23rd largest MSA with nearly 2.7 million.)  Although Universities may understandably be reluctant to open a new law school in this era, I believe a law school of reasonable size (200-250 students per class) affiliated with a respectable private college or University could thrive in Jacksonville.  If anyone wants to start one, please let me know!

Oregon Supreme Court Set to Examine Alternative Pathways to Attorney Licensure

On July 7, the Oregon Supreme Court will consider recommendations from the Oregon Board of Bar Examiners (BBX) to adopt alternative licensure options. In sum, the BBX advanced a report issued from its Alternatives to Exam Task Force recommending adoption of an experiential learning pathway and, separately, a supervised practice pathway. For those who want it, the current iteration of the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) would remain an option. It is important to note that all three pathways ultimately involve an “examination” of the applicant’s work by the BBX.  Here is summary breakdown of Task Force’s recommendations: 

• Oregon Experiential Pathway (OEP): As an alternative to  taking the traditional bar exam, the OEP would offer a two-year curriculum-based experiential pathway to licensure. Applicants applying for admission to the bar through the OEP would complete a set curriculum during law school, culminating in a capstone portfolio or examination assessed by the BBX . The curricular pathway would begin in students' 2L year, and could be completed by the time they graduate. This OEP option is primarily designed for students who attend law school in Oregon and want to practice in Oregon, though other ABA-accredited law schools could apply to participate. Jump to page 7 of the report for more detail about the OEP.
• Supervised Practice Pathway (SPP): As an alternative to the traditional bar exam or the OEP option, SPP applicants would establish their minimum competence for licensure by engaging in 1,000 to 1,500 hours of supervised legal practice and submitting for review to the Oregon Board of Bar Examiners proof of their work-product done during the applicant's supervised practice. The SPP option is designed for those who are graduates from a law school outside of Oregon who plan to practice in Oregon. Jump to page 14 of the report for more detail about the SPP.

A couple of procedural notes before proceeding further. The Court is accepting comments on the report until July 6 and all are welcome to submit a comment here. Note also that you can watch Wednesday’s public hearing, which is set for 1:30 pm PST/4:30 pm EST, here. 

Stepping back, how did we get here? 

The End of InfiLaw? An update on Florida Coastal

CORRECTED:  As has been widely reported, Florida Coastal School of Law has lost their access to federal student loans.  Because operating without access to federal student loan funds is not financially feasible for this for-profit tuition-driven institution, the ABA directed Florida Coastal to submit a teach-out plan.  This plan has remained secret, but it has been repeatedly rejected by the ABA.  As of last week, Florida Coastal was also refusing to inform the students what the teach-out plan was, leaving them completely in the dark as to their fate.  I heard a report that turned out to be untrue that the teach-out plan involved students being transferred to Charleston School of Law. However, Charleston School of Law's Dean contacted me and informed me that Charleston has only agreed to take 10 students as visitors for next year - presumably students who have completed their second year and could not transfer all their credits.

  Supposedly FCSL is offering some summer school classes, but it seems increasingly likely that the school will shutter its doors after that.  If that proves to be the case, this will be the third and final InfiLaw school to go out of business, following in the footsteps of sister schools Charlotte Law and Arizona Summit.   There is some irony in Charleston School of Law being asked to help out Florida Coastal.  Those who have followed the InfiLaw saga will recall that InfiLaw entered into a management agreement with Charleston and then tried to purchase Charleston School of Law back in 2013-4 (see here), but the proposed sale was vehemently opposed by students and faculty and ultimately rejected by the state board of higher education.  InfiLaw also installed a new President at the school, who lasted only a week.  

Charleston does seem to be an appropriate landing spot for FCSL students.  The schools are both private schools with similar entering student profiles.  For 2020, Charleston had a 75/50/25 LSAT of 153/150/148 compared to FCSL's 152/149/146. For 2019 Charleston was at 151/148/146, while FCSL was at 151/147/146. UGPA profiles are also very similar.  The schools are exactly 250 miles apart, about a 4 hour drive up the coast. 

But where will the rest of Florida Coastal's students go?

There are several private peer Florida schools in Florida like St. Thomas (328 miles), Nova Southeastern (317 miles) and Barry in Orlando (137 miles).

Many of Florida Coastal's best students are not waiting to see what FCSL will offer and are in the process of applying to transfer or visit at higher ranking schools, but they are being hampered by slow grading by FCSL professors, several of whom have not yet turned in final grades. While one can sympathize with these professors who are also facing uncertain fates, I would encourage them to complete their grading as expeditiously as possible.

Several questions remain about what FCSL will do for students seeking to transfer.  Will FCSL reimburse students who don't want to accept FCSL's teach out plan and wish to explore other options for transfer applications?  Will they waive fees for transcripts and LSAC/LSDAS reports? Will FCSL pay any costs associated with moving, such as lease cancellations and moving costs?  

For law schools receiving transfer applications from FCSL students, I would encourage them to be liberal in granting them admission.  Strong students at FCSL, particularly those from the top 1/4 to 1/3 of the class, are likely to be continue to be successful at their transfer schools, and highly likely to pass the bar exam.

Aside from the fate of students, this is also an undoubtedly a very trying time for FCSL's faculty and staff, who were apparently also kept largely in the dark about the severity of FCSL's financial issues.  It will be very difficult for FCSL faculty members to find other positions in academia, and certainly they are unlikely to find anything for the fall.  If any FCSL faculty are reading this, please reach out to me, or share your thoughts and any information you would like to share in the comments.

John Marshall Law is No More

The University of Illinois - Chicago announced yesterday that it is dropping the "John Marshall" part of its UIC-John Marshall Law School name.  (UIC's law school is unrelated to Atlanta's John Marshall Law School.)  A task force had been reviewing the issue of whether, given Marshall's involvement with slavery, his name should remain on the law school.  UIC's presser stated:

The task force report noted, “that despite Chief Justice Marshall’s legacy as one of the nation’s most significant U.S. Supreme Court justices, the newly discovered research regarding his role as a slave trader, slave owner of hundreds of slaves, pro-slavery jurisprudence, and racist views render him a highly inappropriate namesake for the Law School.”

UIC merged with the private John Marshall Law School in 2019.  The school will now simply be known as the University of Illinois - Chicago School of Law.

 

The 2017-8 Bottom Ten Law Schools Revisited

Law School admissions practices have improved so much over the last couple of years that this year, I discontinued the Bottom Ten List, my annual list of America's least selective law schools.  With applications way up this year, every law school in America should be able to raise their admission standards even further, while still allowing for modest growth in their first year class. As a reminder of the human cost of exploitative admissions policies, and as a cautionary tale to any schools that might be tempted to lower admission standards, I thought it might be instructive to revisit my bottom ten list for the entering class of 2017-18  and see how the very high risk students that those schools admitted that year ultimately fared, as those full-time students who matriculated in the fall of 2017 should have graduated in the spring of 2020 and taken the bar in the summer (or fall) of 2020.  The bar exam outcomes for 2020 graduates have recently been released by the ABA and are available here. 

My list of the least selective law schools in 2017-8 was as follows:

1. Western Michigan University (Thomas Cooley)

2. Texas Southern

3. (tie) Appalachian

3.  (tie) Southern 

5. (tie) Thomas Jefferson

5.  (tie) Charleston

7.  NC Central

8. (tie) Atlanta's John Marshall

8. (tie) Florida A&M University

10. Concordia.

So, how did the students at the 10 least selective law schools in the country fare?  Not surprisingly, pretty poorly.  Unfortunately, Concordia is now out of business and Thomas Jefferson is now a State Accredited Law School, having lost their ABA accreditation, so we don't have ABA statistics for these schools (although we do have California results for TJ, which is where the vast majority of their graduates take the bar).

Here is a breakdown:

1. WMU - first time pass rate: 45.92% - 30% below weighted ABA average.    
2. Texas Southern - first time pass rate 51.74% overall, 47.62% in Texas - 24.4% below weighted ABA average.
3. Appalachian - 41.18% first time pass rate, 40.37% below weighted ABA average.
4. Southern - 41.66% first time pass rate, 35.33% below weighted ABA average (but this was based on only 12 students who took the bar out of Louisiana - 55 were granted admission to the Louisiana bar through diploma privilege).
5. Charleston - 52.63% first time, 22% below weighted ABA average.
6. Thomas Jefferson - 47% first time pass rate under California's new lower cut score bar exam, 37% below the average for California ABA law grads of 84%.
7. NC Central - 79.31% first time pass rate.  Pretty darn good at first glance, just 2.8% below weighted average. But recall how NC State achieved this - by massive first year academic attrition which got NC Central in hot water with the ABA.  166 students matriculated in 2017.  Only 113 graduated in 2020 and only 86 of those took the bar.  Still NC Central is doing something right.
8. Atlanta's John Marshall - 60% first time pass rate, 16% below weighted ABA average.  But out of 216 that started in 2017, only 100 graduated, and only 80 took the bar.
9. FAMU - 58% first time in Florida, 61% overall, 9.5% below weighted average.  Started with class of 222. Had 149 grads in 2020 and 32 didn't take the bar yet.  So-so.
10. Concordia - unknown.

Although we have become somewhat inured to poor bar performances over the last few years, it is still shocking to see an ABA accredited law school with a first-time bar pass rate below 50%.   I have previously calculated that schools with a first-time pass rate below 55% are unlikely to reach the 75% Ultimate Bar Pass Rate, whereas schools above 60% are likely to do so.  Using this rough estimate, the 6 least selective law schools of 2017 are all likely to fall short on UBP for this class, while John Marshall Atlanta and FAMU will likely be cutting it close.  Of this group, NC Central is the only one that hit the 75% benchmark on the first try.  But they achieved that in part by academically attriting over 20% of their first-year class, a level deemed by the ABA to be presumptively problematic. 

The good news is that all of these law schools, with the one notable exception of Southern, have raised their admission standards significantly in the last two admission cycles, especially Western Michigan.  As long as these schools maintain or improve their current admissions practices, there should be few repeats of 2020's summer's dismal bar performance.   There are still a few schools with weak classes moving through this year and next, most notably WMU, Appalachian, Southern and Texas Southern (see here and here) but the days of sub-50 first time bar pass rates are rapidly coming to a close.  And that's very good news.