Elon University plans to start a full-time law program on the campus of Charlotte’s Queens University in the fall of 2027, the school announced Tuesday.
Elon started a nighttime, flex law school in Charlotte in August 2024 that now has 83 students between two classes. That program will move from its leased office space in the South End neighborhood to the Queens University campus in the Myers Park area.
Before Elon’s launch, Charlotte was one of the largest cities in the country without a law school.
In 2006, Elon opened its law school in downtown Greensboro, 20 miles west of the university’s Alamance County campus. It admitted 182 new students this fall, its largest class ever, said Dean Zak Kramer.
Pending approval by the American Bar Association, the full-time law school in Charlotte will start with 75 students in the fall of 2027 and add 25 first-year students each year until it has a class of about 175 students.
As in Greensboro, the Charlotte law school program will run over two and a half years. Most law schools are three-year programs. Elon puts its current total cost for the program at $136,000.
Charlotte’s flex law school is a four-year program, attracting students who hold jobs and can only attend school part-time.
Elon has about 7,300 students, while Queens has about 1,800. The two schools announced plans in September to merge, signed a definitive agreement in December and expect that transition to begin this summer.
“This is something Elon and Queens could not have achieved independently,” Elon President Connie Book said. “The need for graduate and professional programs in one of our nation’s fastest-growing cities makes the launch of a full-time law program a natural next step for Elon Law.”
Elon will continue offering classes in other programs at the South End building, where it has a multiyear lease.
Elon expects the full-time law program in Charlotte to mirror Elon Law’s existing program. The Charlotte program will expand the reach of the school’s law alumni network in a metropolitan region that is home to about 3,000-plus Elon alumni, including many law school graduates.
“Elon Law’s advantage is that our students learn the law by practicing it in the community,” said Kramer. “We’ve been part of Charlotte for years. This is about deepening those relationships, building new ones and doing more through the community-connected model we’ve developed in Greensboro.”
Elon Law will begin accepting applications for the Charlotte campus in August. Admission will not be extended until formal permission from the American Bar Association is granted.
U.S. News and World Report national rankings for North Carolina law schools:
- Duke – 6th out of 195
- UNC – 18th
- Wake Forest – 26 (tied)
- Campbell – 134
- Elon – 158 (tied)
- N.C. Central – 178
- N.C. Central – 50 out of 67 (part-time program)