The Future of a Once-Doomed Law School

Earlier this year, it appeared as though the Charlotte School of Law would have to close its doors. The for-profit school, which had long suffered from poor bar-passage rates and long-term employment figures, was placed on probation last November by its accreditor. A month later, the U.S. Education Department announced that it would be refusing the school’s access to federal loan money, likely spelling the end for an institution heavily reliant on this source of revenue. Its dean quickly resigned, as did the interim dean who replaced him shortly after that. Enrollment dwindled to some 100 students.

Charlotte Law’s apparent downfall reflected broader trends in the legal-education marketplace. Enrollment in Juris Doctor programs in the 2016-17 academic year, down at non-elite law schools. Plummeting enrollments are forcing and , both of them nonprofits, to close their doors, for example.