Law Schools

Charlotte School Of Law Is Closing 'Effective Immediately'

The school has offered a confusing statement to students on its imminent closure.

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Days after its temporary license to operate expired and its teach-out plan was rejected by the ABA, the Charlotte School of Law is closing.

Don’t believe us? If you try to access the Charlotte Law website, this is the sad image that you’ll find:

No loans, no license, no teach-out plan, no website, and no barely any students apparently amounted to a very big problem for this beleaguered law school.

Please note the UPDATE at the end of this post.

According to an email that was sent to former students by Lee Robertson, president of school’s alumni association, Charlotte Law will be closing its doors. Robertson had a conversation with Interim Dean Paul Meggett yesterday, and learned that the school’s future was nonexistent. “It appears that there is no path forward,” Robertson wrote in his email. “Our law school, it seems, is closing, effective immediately.” The bad news will be delivered to students today.

Students who had hoped to return to Charlotte Law must now transfer to another school, and with classes slated to begin within two weeks at schools across the country, it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to transfer this semester.

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Robertson shared his frustrations in an interview with the Charlotte Observer:

“Unfortunately, this appears to be the end for the Charlotte School of Law,” he said. “This is distressing news, especially for the students who were preparing to return to campus in two weeks. It’s very scary news for our faculty, who were relying on their jobs to support their families.

“For our alumni, this news is extremely frustrating. The value of our degrees—and our professional reputations—depend in large part on how our colleagues, and the public, perceive us. It is tremendously disappointing that our alumni will likely now have to explain that their law school closed.”

The school’s administration, thus far, has been silent — and recent graduates and current students are not happy about it. Here’s a comment we received from a former Charlotte student who transferred out before things got really bad:

Charlotte School of Law has never cared about its students, but the money they brought in. I’m sure their students will learn of its closure through the media. If students get an email, it will probably be later this afternoon.

On a personal note, I have no sympathy for the faculty of Charlotte School of Law. They brought this upon themselves and should be reminded of it. They were all well aware of the school’s problems and were complicit in its downfall with poor curriculum, grading curves, and being fine with accepting and then failing out unqualified students. Charlotte School of Law professors only cared about their jobs and positions, not the welfare of students. I do not wish terrible things on their families, but for all the faculty and staff at Charlotte School of Law, I wish the same fate the students will suffer upon them. I hope they encounter hard choices between a rock and a hard place, massive debt, and extremely poor job prospects as a consequence from coming out of that school.

Ouch. We’ve reached out to the law school for comment, but have not yet received a response. If and when we do, we will update this post.

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As another law school disappears into the ether, all we’ll have to remember it by will be disappointing bar exam outcomes and students’ dashed dreams of becoming lawyers. While this is a sad day for the law students who decided to wait by Charlotte Law’s side as it attempted to right its wrongs, this story could have a happy ending for at least a few people. Students who intended to complete their degrees at Charlotte, students who don’t intend to transfer to another school to complete their degrees, and students who withdrew from the school in the last 120 days can look forward to their debts to Charlotte Law being discharged. Students who withdrew from Charlotte Law more than 120 days ago likely will not be able to get a closed-school discharge of their loans due to the numerous delays and self-serving games the school played.

Charlotte Law is the first of Infilaw’s dominoes to fall, but will it be the last? Only time will tell. Stay tuned for the law school’s official announcement of its closure.

UPDATE (08/16/17): President Chidi Ogene and Interim Dean Paul Meggett sent this update to students just before 7 p.m. last night. No mention is made of the school closing, and students have no idea what is going on. According to sources, the school’s remaining students are incredibly upset about being left in the dark, with some even contemplating bringing suit. This is not going to be a pretty ending to Charlotte Law’s chapter in law school history.

Charlotte School of Law closing immediately, alumni association says [WSOC-TV]
No license, no student loans, no website: Has Charlotte School of Law closed for good? [Charlotte Observer]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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