{"id":659,"date":"2013-12-03T10:49:57","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T15:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/?p=659"},"modified":"2014-03-12T11:42:17","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T15:42:17","slug":"for-profit-law-schools-impacting-the-future-of-legal-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/hlscasestudies\/2013\/12\/03\/for-profit-law-schools-impacting-the-future-of-legal-education\/","title":{"rendered":"For-Profit Law Schools: Impacting the Future of Legal Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The InfiLaw System<\/a>, a for-profit company that owns several law schools and professional development firms, is challenging the status quo in legal education in a way similar to for-profit education companies such as University of Phoenix, Strayer, and DeVry. However, recent features in the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, the ABA Journal<\/em>, and the Charleston Post and Courier<\/em> suggest that this new approach has not been wholly well-received.<\/p>\n

InfiLaw applies its profit-oriented approach to legal education. According to its website, InfiLaw creates curricula based on \u201cemerging market realities,\u201d job demand, job competition, and return on investment. Founded in 2004 by Sterling Partners, a private-equity group, InfiLaw quickly purchased two for-profit independent schools, Florida Coastal School of Law (Jacksonville, FL) and Phoenix School of Law (Phoenix, AZ). The latter was renamed Arizona Summit Law School in November 2013.\u00a0 In 2006, North Carolina\u2019s Charlotte School of Law was added to the roster, and this year Charleston School of Law in South Carolina is in the process of transitioning to the InfiLaw group.<\/p>\n

Proponents of for-profit education argue that it responds to market forces, providing educational opportunities to traditionally underserved students who in turn become more valuable to employers.\u00a0 Critics claim that for-profit institutions are simply numbers-oriented \u201cdiploma mills\u201d that push students through programs of questionable quality with the goal of increasing the revenues of the equity firms that own these institutions. For instance, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee found that \u201cactual instruction [at for-profit institutions] made up a paltry 17.2 percent of expenses.\u201d The magazine Diverse Education <\/em>explains: \u201caccording to the U.S. Department of Education, students at for-profit institutions represent 12 percent of all higher education students, 26 percent of all student loans and 46 percent of all student loan dollars in default. [\u2026]\u00a0 On average, students at four-year public and private institutions earn higher wages upon graduation than those at for-profit institutions.\u201d However, accreditation standards for for-profit schools have slowed the \u201cdiploma mill endemic,\u201d say researchers from the Center of College Affordability and Productivity<\/span>,\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n

William Henderson, a law professor at Indiana University, told the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, \u201cInfiLaw is applying a private-equity model to legal education\u2026I think these are people who could make a difference in legal education.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 InfiLaw supporters argue that the consortium provides opportunities to a number of students who otherwise might not be able to study law. The Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u2019s Ashby Jones explained that these for-profit models are not \u201cdesigned to compete with the Harvards and Stanfords[\u2026] the approach [\u2026] has mostly been to target students, including many minorities, whose grade point averages or LSAT scores don\u2019t qualify them for admission at the top schools\u201d (link<\/a>; subscribers only.) InfiLaw has committed to provide students with more feedback and hands-on learning than traditional law schools do, plus they\u2019re offering 400 hours of work experience by the time students graduate.\u00a0 The InfiLaw website states that their schools aim to uphold three main principles<\/a>:<\/p>\n