Charlotte School of Law not alone in facing an uncertain future
STUDENT WOES
According to 2017 graduate, Matt Blevins, a big problem for CSL students came in 2015, when the school changed its below-C curve from 20 to 45 percent.
“They were bringing in all these people, and almost half of them are gone each year,” he says. “You get kicked out if you drop below a 2.0. These people uprooted their lives, took out full loans and have nothing to speak of after a year.”
Blevins knows of 20 students who flunked out and were immediately readmitted—as first-year students. “They didn’t get to keep any credits, even if they passed the classes,” he says, adding that out of those 20 readmitted, only three avoided getting kicked out again.
Around the same time that Blevins attended Charlotte, applications to law schools were decreasing nationally. Some law schools admitted students with lower LSATs and undergraduate GPAs, says David Frakt, an Orlando, Florida, attorney and 2014 dean finalist at Florida Coastal.
It became clear, he says, that the ABA wasn’t doing much admissions standards enforcement then, instead opting to see what happened with bar passage rates. “InfiLaw schools knew they had a four-year window where they could let in absolutely everyone,” Frakt says. “They made out like bandits.”
The Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is the federally recognized accrediting body for education institutions that offer a JD degree. Barry Currier, managing director of the legal education section, would not comment about criticism that the section is too lax on law schools.
“In the past few years we have, as a matter of course, placed more emphasis for our standards on outcomes, such as bar passage rates and employment data, than inputs,” he wrote in an April email to the Journal. “The council and the accreditation committee pay close attention to schools’ bar pass rates and enter into compliance dialogues with those schools where problems arise. Those matters are confidential under our process.”
IS CSL NEEDED?
Margaret Kocaj, who graduated from Charlotte Law in May, is a longtime resident, which is one reason she opted to attend the city’s only law school. Kocaj owns a tax preparation business, and she plans to work as a solo practitioner.
“I truly believe that Charlotte needs a law school. There are a lot of people it can serve,” she says.
Practicing lawyers in town see things differently, says F. Lane Williamson, president of the Mecklenburg County Bar, which includes the city of Charlotte. The state has 23,325 lawyers, according to the 2016 ABA national lawyer population survey. Williamson says many in small firms and solo practices find it increasingly hard to make a living.
North Carolina residents might need attorneys, he says, but competition is stiff for clients who can afford to pay one. The median household income in North Carolina is $47,830, according to 2015 U.S. census data (the latest figures available), while the national median household income is $55,775.
“One of the resentments some lawyers here have about Charlotte School of Law is that they turn out these graduates who drive down the market in certain practice areas, like traffic offenses and family law,” says Williamson, a former superior court judge and discipline hearing commission chair for the state bar.
The state has seven law schools, and four of them report that 50 percent or less of their 2016 graduates had full-time, long-term jobs that required JDs, according to ABA employment summary data.
Nationally, 39,984 people graduated from U.S. law schools in 2015, the National Association for Law Placement reports. Ten months later, only 33,469 found employment, including jobs that did not require a law degree.
“We’re talking about a legal market after a recession. A lot of law firms are firing associates, and less people are thinking about hiring legal counsel,” says Constance Iloh, an assistant professor of higher education at the University of California at Irvine. Iloh’s scholarship addresses educational access and equity, focusing on for-profit higher education and community colleges.
“All of these institutions, not just for-profits, need to be realistic about how many students they enroll, given the market,” she says. “And they need to be very intentional about trends in the legal profession, especially in this time when there aren’t many jobs.”
Andrew Howe: “With a family, including two little ones, I have to accept whatever detriment may come from holding a CSL degree and use that as motivation to outwork others.” Photo by Albert Dickson.
MOVING OUT
Andrew Howe, who was slated to graduate from Charlotte in May, has had a hard time deciding where he wants to finish law school. In January, he planned to transfer to the Wake Forest University School of Law, thinking it would be better for his career. According to ABA employment data, 73.3 percent of Wake Forest’s 2016 graduates had full-time, long-term jobs that required JDs. At Charlotte, 23.5 percent of its class of 2016 got such jobs.
Howe is a former band teacher and father of two who has about $72,000 in law school loans, which he took out for living expenses. By June, he was thinking he might stay at Charlotte and finish, if it remains open. He has a job clerking with Robertson & Associates and an offer to practice law there if he graduates from Charlotte. The law firm is owned by Richard L. Robertson Sr., whose son is president of the school’s alumni association.
“I just need to get done,” says Howe, who had taken a leave of absence from the school in January. “In a perfect world, I would do something different, but with a family, including two little ones, I have to accept whatever detriment may come from holding a CSL degree and use that as motivation to outwork others.”
By June, he says, he was able to remove emotion from the decision. “It has been an evolving process,” Howe says. “But I’m thankful to be moving toward an end.”
Howe received a full-ride scholarship to attend Charlotte, which is one reason he went there—that and the fact that it’s close to his home.
“Everyone knew there was some issues—obviously their bar passage rate is public knowledge,” Howe says. “But I don’t think anyone could fathom that this could take place. The pitch they gave us was: ‘We don’t have great bar passage rates, but we’re still a good law school. We’re accredited, and you can learn what you need to go on and do great things.’ ”
Howe also was accepted at Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia. Sandra McGlothlin, the school’s dean, says it has 13 transfer students from Charlotte, many of whom were 3Ls. There wasn’t a GPA cutoff, she says, but the school did not accept students who scored under Appalachian’s median LSAT score of 143.
If their completed classes fit what Appalachian offers and the students earned a C or better grade from the class, the credits transferred, says McGlothlin, whose school has accepted more CSL students for the fall term.
Out of Appalachian’s 42 graduates in the class of 2016, 15 had full-time, long-term jobs that required JDs, according to ABA employment summary data. The school’s bar passage average for 2015 was 58 percent, according to its Standard 509 Information Report for 2016.
This article appeared in the August 2017 issue of the ABA Journal with the headline "Troubled Passage: Charlotte School of Law faces an uncertain future, but it is not alone."
