Arizona Summit Law School won't offer classes this fall; students told to transfer

Anne Ryman | The Republic | azcentral.com

Show Caption Hide Caption Arizona Summit Law School Arizona Summit Law School went from having the state's highest bar passage rate to the lowest.

Arizona Summit Law School will not offer classes this fall, sending its students scrambling to find other options and raising questions about the private law school's future.

Summit's students were informed in an email late last week that the school would "not offer any classes" this fall, and they would need to transfer to other law schools for the semester.

The email, sent less than two weeks before classes were scheduled to begin, advised students to apply as "visitors" to Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, though the email said there are "no guarantees" all students will be accepted.

Students reacted with a mix of confusion and panic to the latest sign of Summit's ongoing struggles.

The school had about 100 students as of July, and law-school officials predicted then that 30 to 40 would transfer. That would leave roughly 60 to 70 students who had expected to attend Arizona Summit for the fall semester.

The school's new president, Peter Goplerud, said Arizona Summit will help its students finish school and pursue their careers.

"It’s important for people to know we are doing everything we possibly can to ensure the students have the best opportunities ahead of them to continue their education, graduate and be eligible to take the Bar exam," he said.

RELATED: Arizona Summit Law School to lose accreditation

Earlier this year, the accrediting body for U.S. law schools, the American Bar Association, notified Arizona Summit of plans to revoke the school's accreditation for noncompliance with ABA standards. The school is appealing the decision and expects a final decision in mid-October.

If it loses accreditation, Summit likely won't be able to continue operating. Graduating from an ABA-accredited law school is required to take the Bar exam in many states, including Arizona. And passing the exam is required to practice law in most states.

ASU can take some students

Arizona Summit's decision to offer no classes this fall leaves its students with three choices:

Transfer to another school this fall. Those who are within a semester of graduating can attend ASU as visiting students and graduate in December from Arizona Summit.

Attend Florida Coastal Law School, which is affiliated with Summit, through online or in-person classes.

Sit out a semester and see if ASU and Arizona Summit reach an agreement on a "teach-out plan" that would begin in January.

Tom Williams, assistant dean of ASU's law school, said the university's law school can accommodate for the fall students who are within one semester of graduating, which is an estimated eight to 10 students. Classes begin Wednesday.

"We're talking to them every hour," he said of the Summit students. "I have four different people working on it now."

But ASU can't accommodate all of them, he said. "We don't have the places for them, and honestly there are a lot of students who wouldn't succeed in our program," he said.

Goplerud said Arizona Summit has arranged with its sister school, Florida Coastal Law School, to provide online courses to its students this fall. Classes begin Aug. 20.

Florida Coastal will accommodate any Arizona Summit student, he said, and students could relocate to the Jacksonville, Florida, school if they prefer.

MORE: AZ Summit aimed to redefine law school through diversity. What went wrong?

First-year law student Kurt Fernandez said he likely will take online classes this fall through Florida Coastal. He's starting his second semester. His wife is a real-estate agent, he said, and it would be difficult for the family to move to another city.

"It's just rough," said the 33-year-old who lives in Ahwatukee Foothills. "I have a 2-year-old and my wife is pregnant, so I'm sort of stuck in Arizona."

ASU and Arizona Summit are in discussions for a separate "teach-out plan" to accommodate Arizona Summit students in January if the school loses accreditation. The plan would allow students to complete their education through Arizona Summit by taking classes at ASU.

Arizona Summit officials originally approached ASU in July to try to get the teach-out plan ready for the fall semester. But the two schools were unable to make it work because of all the entities that would need to approve the plan, including the ABA and the U.S. Department of Education.

"If we can reach an agreement, we'll implement in January," ASU's Williams said.

RELATED: Arizona Summit Law students could end up at ASU

About two dozen Arizona Summit students attended an informational meeting on Tuesday afternoon sponsored by ASU.

ASU Law School Dean Douglas Sylvester advised students to stay in contact with the university and said he and other staff members were available to answer questions that may arise. He said there were "no guarantees" the teach-out plan would be approved by January. But, he added, "the minute it's approved, we'll let you know."

One issue facing transferring students is the potential to lose credits, depending on the law school that accepts them. Williams said law schools typically will accept between 20 and 30 credits from another school. ASU, for example, accepts up to 29 credits.

No hint of plan in July

As recently as a month ago, Arizona Summit officials gave no hint they might not offer classes this fall.

Summit officials appeared before the state licensing agency for for-profit schools, the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education, and told board members they were "laying the groundwork to ensure students finish at an ABA-accredited law school."

The board's executive director, Teri Stanfill, declined to comment about the school's decision not to offer fall classes. State-board rules do not require the school to have a teach-out plan for its students.

RELATED: Arizona Summit sues American Bar Association

The board does have the school on heightened monitoring, however, and requires Arizona Summit to make quarterly reports four times a year. The board also required the school in May 2017 to post a surety bond to guarantee students would be repaid if the school failed.

In a statement, Barry Currier, managing director of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, said, "We appreciate that this is a difficult time for students and faculty and staff at Arizona Summit Law School. But because of confidentiality rules under ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for the Approval of Law Schools, we cannot comment further at this time.”

Arizona Summit, then known as the Phoenix School of Law, opened its doors in 2004.

Law school professor Don Lively had the founding vision for Florida Coastal School of Law, which after its acquisition by a private equity group, became a model for the Charlotte School of Law and Phoenix School of Law, which was later re-named Arizona Summit.

The Phoenix School of Law had good results in its early years. Graduates posted a 97 percent passage rate on the Arizona Bar Exam in July 2008, the highest among the state's three law schools.

In recent years, however, the school has struggled with declining performance on the exam.

RELATED: AZ law school has lowest bar-passage rates

Nearly 70 percent of Arizona Summit graduates fail the Arizona Bar Exam on the first try, delaying their becoming practicing attorneys.

School officials have been encouraging some students to take the exam in New Mexico, where they say it's easier to pass, and graduates had a 54 percent pass rate in February.

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8072 or anne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com.

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