Law Schools

Law School Braces For Vote That May Close Its Doors Forever

After years of headlines that prominently feature the word 'struggling' and 'troubled,' this isn't a huge surprise.

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Closed signTomorrow, the Golden Gate University Board of Trustees will meet to decide the future of its law school. Last week, the University president and current dean sent around an email informing the law school community that the Board is meeting on June 21 to discuss a proposal to keep the school alive amid ABA accreditation pressure and mounting deficits. While the email uses phrases like “a long-term future” and “[n]o decisions have been made,” it leaves the distinct impression that the law school’s survival odds might be worse than their employment figures.

For the last 10 years, GGU School of Law has struggled to generate sufficient tuition revenue to meet operating expenses while at the same time ensuring compliance with ABA bar passage requirements. A bold plan to transform GGU Law in accordance with the University’s longstanding commitment to access and affordability was developed a year-and-a-half ago (January 2022), in conjunction with internal and external legal education experts, and overwhelmingly endorsed by Law School faculty.

Despite the integrity of the plan, for which we fully expected to have resources, we now face tighter capital markets as well as the precipitous devaluation of San Francisco’s commercial real estate as we sought to sell downtown properties and right-size our physical space requirements.

It’s hard to believe the downtown real estate market would’ve solved all of Golden Gate’s problems. The school’s enrollment has declined by a little over 80 percent since 2010. While its employment stats are up over that period, they’re still a woeful 38 percent for 2022 grads.

All that for a total debt projection around $283K. Meanwhile, UC Law — San Francisco, the artist formerly known as Hastings, puts students around $270K in debt with a 73.5 percent employment score. Spend more, get less isn’t a viable model when you’re less than a 10 minute drive from a school delivering the opposite.

The signature line of the email might harbor additional cause for concern. Mark Yates signs the email as “Dean, GGU Law.” Dean Colin Crawford had been tabbed to take over the University of Arkansas — Little Rock, though that job doesn’t take effect until July 1 and I hadn’t seen an announcement elevating Yates. Either way, a leadership shuffle right before the Board votes on whether or not to keep the school alive doesn’t bode well.

Nor does the exit of the University-wide provost, who decamped for Hawai’i last month following a relatively short GGU tenure after serving as the key architect of a University of Arizona deal to enter online education that… didn’t go well.

Will the school live to fight another day? Grab your Magic 8 balls, but it doesn’t look great.

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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