The ABA provisionally approved Jacksonville Law School’s accreditation, the first approval of a new law school since 2017. The American Bar Association (ABA) also granted provisional approval to the Charleston School of Law’s request to transition from a for-profit institution to a nonprofit entity. This leaves just one for-profit ABA-accredited law school left - Western State College of Law at Westcliff University in Irvine, CA.

For-Profit Law Schools Dwindle

Over the past decade, the number of ABA-approved law schools nationwide has declined. These institutions, consistently reported poor employment outcomes and low bar exam pass rates for their graduates. Closures of several law campuses followed.

Faced with a series of accreditation challenges and federal investigations that led to the revocation of their student loan funding, these schools began to shut down. Eventually, only two for-profit law schools remained operational; Charleston School of Law and Western State College of Law. 

With Charleston School of Law's approval from the ABA to move to a nonprofit status, the institution plans to obtain the necessary endorsements from the Department of Education and the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education to complete the transition.

Western State College of Law, meanwhile, appears to be on its own in the realm of for-profit law education. It raises the question of whether the institution will address the financial burdens imposed on its students, perhaps by reassessing their student loan debts.

Florida Coastal’s closure left Jacksonville—the largest U.S. city without a law school—facing a void. In response, Jacksonville University stepped up to fill this gap by establishing a new law school. Nicholas Allard, former dean of Brooklyn Law School and senior counsel at global law firm Dentons, now leads the institution as dean.

The Transition to Nonprofit Status

The Charleston School of Law’s application for nonprofit status received the “acquiescence” of the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the ABA. Filed in October, the application now sets the stage for transformative changes within the institution. 

The conversion involves the current owners, including J. Edward Bell III, president and managing partner of Charleston Law and founder and senior partner of Bell Legal Group. These stakeholders will donate the school to an existing nonprofit entity—the Charleston School of Law Foundation, Inc. Importantly, they will not derive any financial benefit from this transfer, emphasizing their commitment to the institution’s mission.