One former Charlotte School of Law student, speaking about the recent bar exam results: "I had the support of many (Charlotte Law) students and the remaining faculty. These first-time takers did not."
Observer file
A chaotic year at Charlotte School of Law has given way to a disastrous performance by its graduates on the most recent bar examination, according to newly released state figures.
Eleven recent alumni of the defunct school took the test for the first time in February. All failed.
Among the Charlotte Law graduates who had taken the test before, eight out of 73 passed the most recent exam.
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Combined, that gives Charlotte Law an overall passing rate of 9.5 percent — by far the lowest of the state's seven law schools.
Statewide, 43 percent of the in-state law grads passed the exam on the first try, according to figures released by the N.C. Board of Law Examiners. Charlotte Law's performance pulled down the overall passage rate to 29 percent.
Several of the in-state schools saw their overall success rate fall. At UNC Chapel Hill, for example, the combined passing rate dropped from 65 percent in February 2017 to 46 percent this year. A total of 28 UNC law graduates took the most recent exam.
No school fell as far as Charlotte Law, which locked its doors in August. The end came nine months after the uptown school was bounced from the federal student-loan program amid regulatory scrutiny of its bar exam scores and the rigor of its curriculum and admissions — even as the for-profit operation charged more than $40,000 in tuition annually.
Charlotte Law had more graduates sit for the February exam than any other N.C. law school. According to the school's critics, the performance of Charlotte Law's final graduates illustrated the school's basic failings.
"There are many reasons this law school closed, and this is just one of them," said Staci Zaretsky, editor of the blog Above the Law, which first reported the bar results.
"God, that's depressing. At least with Charlotte's closure, the suffering has ended."
Over the weekend, Charlotte attorney Noell Tin posted on his Facebook page that the "zero point zero" passage rate of Charlotte Law's first-time takers reminded him of the movie "Animal House."
On Monday, Tin told the Observer he sympathizes with the local students who have taken on significant student loans and now may not be able to find the jobs and salaries to pay them off.
"It just looks so bleak," Tin said. "Just imagine that you now have $200,000 of debt, you flunked the bar exam and your school doesn't exist anymore."
Alumni of Charlotte Law said none of the graduates of the other schools experienced the chaos that descended upon Charlotte Law in its final months.
Margaret Kocaj of Charlotte, who passed the bar on her first try in July, said Charlotte Law's closure forced several third-year students to transfer to other schools, even other states, to finish their final semesters before they could begin preparing for the bar.
"The stress of bar study is unlike anything I have ever experienced," Kocaj said. "I had the support of many (Charlotte Law) students and the remaining faculty. These first-time takers did not."
Charlotte attorney Lee Robertson, president of the shuttered school's alumni association, called the performance of the most recent graduates "frustrating." But he said many of the test-takers did not have a law school or law library available to help them properly prepare.
In December 2016, only weeks before the beginning of a new semester, the U.S. Department of Education made Charlotte Law the first accredited law school ever cut off from the student-loan program. It also accused the school's leaders of attempting to hide the longstanding problems to maintain enrollment and the flow of tuition.
Enrollment plummeted from a one-time high of 1,400 to fewer than 100. Faculty and curriculum were cut. In the absence of loans, the school's faculty ran a food bank for the students. The school survived for one last semester. But Kocaj said Charlotte Law systematically "destroyed its own reputation and tarnished that of its students."
Last summer, the University of North Carolina System pulled Charlotte Law's operating license and the school closed. By that time, students had filed dozens of lawsuits alleging fraud and misrepresentation.
The school's last graduation was last May. Bar exams are given in July and February. The winter test generally draws fewer takers, which makes a school's results more prone to drastic changes from year to year.
For example, Elon University's law school had only seven students take the February 2017 exam, and all failed, Zaretsky said. A year later, state figures show, 42 percent of the school's 60 first-time takers passed.
In July, Wake Forest had the state's top overall scores on the bar exam, Zaretsky said. But only a third of the 15 Wake law grads who took the February exam got a passing grade, according to state figures.
Early on, Charlotte Law's bar scores were competitive statewide. In 2010 and 2011, the school's first-time passing rate tracked or exceeded the N.C. average. But starting in 2012, the scores of the Charlotte grads began to fall, reflective of what faculty members described as a budget-based decision by administrators to lower admissions standards to maintain enrollment during the recession.
In response, administrators said the school was meeting its core obligation of offering nontraditional law school candidates the chance at a legal education.
Kocaj said some of her Charlotte Law friends came within a few points of passing the most recent exam. Robertson said the school's local alumni will do what they can to help the recent test-takers prepare for another try.
That may prove to be a problem: Kocaj said after the latest bar results, several of her former schoolmates may be giving up on the law.
"These capable people, who have persevered through all that has been thrown at them, are considering new careers. Some would make great attorneys and advocates for their clients, and now, they aren't sure they want to try again," Kocaj said.
"That just makes me sad."
Michael Gordon: 704-358-5095; @MikeGordonOBS
This story was originally published April 17, 2018 5:09 PM.