MEDIA CENTER: Working press can click here for background and other media information.

7/23: Dickey, Williams to join faculty

7/10: Crystal joins faculty

6/13: School migrates to .edu domain

6/3: Abrams named new dean

5/10: 163 graduate from law school

4/25: Symposium focused on privary
Other information

 

 

 

 
 

NEWS
New law school gets go-ahead
Will soon start taking applications
for 2004-2005 school year

SEPT. 4, 2003 - - The S.C. Commission on Higher Education today approved a plan to allow a new private law school in Charleston to start enrolling students for classes to begin in September 2004.

With its new provisional license, The Charleston School of Law is expected to open next year with a class of at least 125 students in downtown Charleston, said Alex Sanders, chairman of the Committee to Establish The Charleston School of Law. Details about the location are not yet available.

"We will teach students of high moral character and unquestioned personal integrity that the practice of law is a profession, having as its chief aim providing public service," said Sanders, former president of the College of Charleston.

Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. outlined the city's support of the new school in a letter to the Commission:

"The Charleston School of Law will not only be a huge asset because of the training and legal services clinics, but it will also be a tremendous asset to the economic and intellectual vitality of our community."

The school soon will begin accepting applications. Anyone interested in receiving information about the school or in applying should contact it online.

The school will not receive state funding. Its principals have already started discussions with the American Bar Association about accreditation, Sanders added.

Dean chosen for new law school
Excerpted from The State
July 24, 2003

A group working to bring a private law school to Charleston has already identified a dean to lead the school, more than a month before the plan goes before state regulators.

Former College of Charleston president Alex Sanders wouldn't name the person publicly because the candidate's employer has not been notified, and the new school has yet to get state approval.

But the selection of a dean and the upcoming hearing with the Commission on Higher Education is a clear sign that planners expect the school to move forward quickly.

"The organizing committee for the new law school has committed itself to one employee, but I'm not at liberty to say who that is," Sanders said.

"A surprising number of people have come to us to ask about taking (various) positions."

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New law school would open in 2004
Excerpted from The Post and Courier
April 11, 2003

Former College of Charleston President Alex Sanders is leading a group of lawyers and judges seeking to establish a private school as South Carolina's second law school.

Sanders is a former state Court of Appeals judge who returned to the college as a law professor after losing his U.S. Senate run last year. He and others have filed a letter of intent for a private law school with the state Commission on Higher Education, which will decide whether the school can open next year.

The proposed school has the support of Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., a lawyer and a longtime friend of Sanders.

"The state needs a second law school ... as the demand for lawyers and the competition among South Carolinians to get into USC law school attests," Riley said.

Charleston is the perfect location, Riley said, because of its history and other higher education institutions. The city would reap the economic benefits of having law students and professors here, and the school would create a network with the local legal community, he said."(The organizers) are confident that it's feasible and would be a very successful venture," Riley said.

The letter of intent outlines a growing demand for legal education, noting that applications to law schools were up by 17.6 percent in 2002. In 2000-01, the number of South Carolina applicants was up by 9.1 percent, compared with 3.6 percent nationwide, the letter states.

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Group wants new law school in South Carolina
Excerpted from The State
April 10, 2003

A group of lawyers and judges headed by former College of Charleston president Alex Sanders is taking steps to start a private law school in Charleston.

The school, which would be the state's second law school, would seek students who want to use the law to provide public service and help the underprivileged - instead of seeking those whose focus might be to join a large law firm or work for major corporations, Sanders said.

"South Carolina has only one law school, and there are many qualified applicants that it is unable to take," said Sanders, speaking of USC's School of Law in Columbia. He estimated the number of qualified students who are unable to get into USC's law school and who want to go to law school in South Carolina to be at least several hundred.

Sanders said a target opening date for a first-year law class of 120 students is fall 2004. The school's yearly tuition would be in the $18,000 range - about $10,000 more than USC Law School's base tuition.

When fully operational in 2008, the new school would have about 450 first-, second- and third-year students, compared with USC's law school population of about 670.

Supporters of the proposed law school - to be called the Charleston School of Law - include some of the state's most prominent judges and lawyers.

"We're not asking the taxpayers for any help," said Sanders.

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