Despite plans to close, Savannah Law School will allow students to complete education in same city
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Savannah Law School has sold its building and announced its decision to close, but that doesn’t mean its current students will have to travel to another city to complete their education.
The school “will cease operations over the next five years,” though it will stop admitting new students, according to a statement released on Thursday by the board of directors of its parent school, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School.
Students will have the option to complete their education in Savannah or to transfer to John Marshall. They can also apply to visit at or transfer to another institution.
Savannah Law School will vacate its current facility on June 1, and will open the school at a new location in the city.
The board said in the statement that it is “committed to continuing Savannah Law School’s operations at its current high level of academic standard.”
According to the statement, the hard decision to close the school “resulted from Savannah Law School’s inability to attract a necessary applicant pool to ever achieve sustainable enrollment levels. This problem has been part of a national trend in legal education.”
Some students and alumni have formed a group called Saving Savannah that seeks to keep the school open, according to the Daily Report. Their hope is that a public university will take over the school.
Students have also filed two lawsuits over the planned closing.
One of the suits, a would-be class action, claims the school is being closed to financially benefit John Marshall and improve the parent school’s position before the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which accredits law schools.
The section had notified John Marshall in October that its accreditation committee had concluded it wasn’t complying with ABA standards, and the law school was being required to submit a report by February.
The other suit, citing information and belief, alleges Savannah Law School and John Marshall Law School “established Savannah Law School to obtain student loan money while aiming long-term to make a profit by flipping the property where Savannah Law School is located.” The property sold for a multiple of its purchase price, the suit says.
