Federal Inquiry of Charlotte Law School Is Disclosed by Suit
Last January — after Ms. Bernier’s suit had been filed — Charlotte’s local public radio station, WFAE, broadcast recordings of
a Charlotte Law school dean describing paying at-risk students to delay taking the bar and enroll in a bar preparation course.
Charlotte Law later introduced a mandatory bar preparation course, which students
had to pass to obtain their law degree, Ms. Bernier said in an interview.
The Charlotte Law dean’s office, she said in her legal papers, “telephoned graduates the night
before the bar exam to actively discourage them from taking the exam the next day.”
The reason for the last-minute calls and the offer of a $5,000 stipend was to reduce the number
of first-time bar exam takers who might fail it, she explained in a telephone interview.
The school’s problems escalated in 2016, when the American Bar Association’s legal section, which accredits law
schools, placed Charlotte Law on probation for deficiencies in several areas, including student admissions.
Charlotte Law shut its doors last month, and it still faces several state
and federal lawsuits from disgruntled law students who are saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt.