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Law School Negligently Allowed Student to Enroll Before Graduating?

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on February 22, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A Tennessee law school was negligent in allowing a student to enroll when she hadn't yet completed her undergraduate degree, a lawsuit claims.

Morgan Crutchfield, a part-time student at Lincoln Memorial University's John J. Duncan Jr. School of Law, seeks as much as $750,000 in her suit against the school, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports.

Crutchfield was 12 credits shy of completing her undergraduate degree in 2009. The law school admitted Crutchfield, telling her she could finish her undergrad requirements during law school, her lawsuit claims.

But when Crutchfield applied to sit for the bar exam, she found that wasn't the case.

Tennessee's Board of Law Examiners refused to allow Morgan Crutchfield to sit for the state bar exam, citing a rule that requires an undergraduate degree be completed before a student begins law school, the News Sentinel reports.

Crutchfield alleges the school, two deans, and its former admissions director were negligent in allowing her to enroll. School officials should have known her unfinished undergrad degree would be a problem, her law-school negligence suit claims.

"As attorneys and as administrators, they're bound to know what the requirements are when they're attempting to bring students into the law program," Crutchfield's lawyer told the News Sentinel. A school spokeswoman declined to comment.

Morgan Crutchfield's law-school negligence suit is the latest hit to the reputation of Lincoln Memorial University's Duncan School of Law. The American Bar Association denied the school accreditation in December, the News Sentinel reports. The school responded with a $3 million lawsuit against the ABA, alleging due process and antitrust violations.

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