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Sad Day in GA: Savannah Law School Closing

By George Khoury, Esq. on March 23, 2018 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

It's a sad day in Savannah, Georgia. Law students and faculty at Savannah Law School were recently informed that their school will be shutting down.

Although this sad news blindsided the students and faculty, clearly the school's closing has been under consideration for some time as the news also came alongside notice that the school's building had been sold. Fortunately for the current graduating the class, the closure won't occur until the end of the semester.

What About the Current and Prospective Students?

When a law school closes (at least an accredited one), it must have a "teach out" plan approved by the ABA for what it will do with the current students. Although reports indicate that Savannah has not submitted such a plan nor notified the ABA, it's likely that current students may be absorbed into the sister, or parent, or cousin, school it branched off from, John Marshall in Atlanta. The caveat here is that John Marshall is 250 miles away.

The students will all learn a very valuable lesson from this: When it comes to for-profit businesses, you gotta know when to hold'em, and know when to fold'em. Prospective students who applied, and clearly won't be getting in, can also learn a valuable lesson: Be wary of for-profit law schools that haven't been open very long.

What About the Faculty and Community?

Unfortunately for the small faculty, layoffs are expected. Interestingly, Savannah Law School has not been around that long. It was only established in 2011. And as rumored by ATL, there may be some sort of real estate scandal behind this all. Digging deeper, it seems right to be suspicious about a law school that was only in business for seven years and got federal student loan money from students to basically renovate an old, abandoned hospital, then sell it.

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