It's Time For A New Law School In Charlotte: University Of North Carolina-Charlotte Or Wake Forest

Following up on my previous posts (links below): Charlotte Agenda, Charlotte Needs a Law School. It’s Time to Start a New One (Or Recruit One):

Our city needs to have a law school. And with Charlotte School of Law on the ropes, it’s time to get going on starting a new one. ... It’s time to start building a new law school — or recruiting an existing one to move to Charlotte. Here are two options. One’s likely, the other is more of a long shot.

UNC Charlotte opens up a law school

This isn’t a new idea. The university explored opening a school of law back in 2008. Of course, the economy promptly tanked, and demand for law school and lawyers along with it. That’s still fairly true — law school applications remain near historic lows.

But there are still plenty of people here in Charlotte who are looking to move up in their careers, find a new job and boost their earning power through law school without uprooting their families to do it. Major Charlotte employers are still hungry for talent with law backgrounds. These are the populations a UNC Charlotte law school could serve.

UNC Charlotte doesn’t need to build a flagship, nationally competitive law school flying students in from around the world to be effective. And the university already knows how to fill this niche. Their Professional MBA program ranks among the country’s best by U.S. News.

Wake Forest moves its law school to Charlotte

This one is a bit of a tougher sell, but it’s not without precedent. A few years back, Campbell University moved its law school to downtown Raleigh to be around a larger employment center. Sure, Winston-Salem is not Buies Creek, but Wake could arguably have deeper ties with the corporate and legal community here in Charlotte.

Wake has already done this with its traditional MBA program, which is no longer offered on the main campus. There are Saturday and evening MBA programs in Charlotte.

As an intermediate step, Wake could open a satellite campus Uptown, much like Northeastern University has done.

• David Frakt, The Debacle Unfolds at Charlotte Law School
• Greensboro News & Record, A Charlotte Law Update

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• It Begins . . . Department Of Education Cuts Off Federal Student Loans For Charlotte Law School, Effective Dec. 31 (Dec. 19, 2016)
• More On The Department Of Education's Decision To Cut Off Federal Student Loans For Charlotte Law School (Dec. 20, 2016)
• Students, Faculty React To Department Of Education's Decision To Cut Off Federal Student Loans For Charlotte Law School (Dec. 23, 2016)
• Students File $5 Million Class Action Lawsuit Against Charlotte Law School (Dec. 24, 2016)
• Editorial: 'Unconscionable' Leaders Hid Charlotte Law School's Problems To Keep Revenue Flowing; 'Catastrophic Fiasco May Destroy Lives Of Hundreds Of Innocent Students' (Dec. 29, 2016)
• Charlotte Law School Works On Transfer Plan With Florida Coastal As Rumors And Lawsuits Swirl After Feds Cut Off Student Loans (Jan. 5, 2017)
• Charlotte Law School To Reopen Jan. 17, Despite Feds' Decision To Cut Off Student Loans (Jan. 9, 2017)
• Charlotte Dean Fires Associate Dean For Academics And Faculty Development Who 'Acted As Shield Between InfiLaw And Faculty And Students' (Jan. 10, 2017)
• Is Doomsday Imminent For Charlotte Law School? Is The ABA Going To Do Anything About The Other 2 InfiLaw Schools? (Jan. 11, 2017)
• Leef: Feds Should Eliminate Student Loans For All Law Schools, Not Just Charlotte (Jan. 15, 2017)
• The Demise Of Charlotte Law School Resurrects Talk Of New Law School At University Of North Carolina-Charlotte (Jan. 16, 2017)
• Charlotte Law School To File Teach-Out Plan With ABA To Protect Students As School Shuts Down (Jan. 18, 2017)
• Charlotte Law School Fires Two-Thirds Of Faculty And Staff, Abandons Teach-Out Plan As Negotiations With Department Of Education Collapse; Classes Begin Jan. 23 (Jan. 19, 2017)