Elon University submitted an application for accreditation to the American Bar Association for a School of Law to be located in Charlotte.
Elon University, based in Alamance County, opened a School of Law in downtown Greensboro in 2006.
The Council of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has not taken up Elon’s application, and is not expected to until at least November. The council serves as an independent arm of the ABA for law school accreditation matters. The Council posts decisions on its own schedule. The Council met in August and is not scheduled to meet again until November.
Elon seeks to open up a separate location or “branch campus,” where a student may earn more than two-thirds of the credit hours that the law school requires for the award of a law degree, according to the American Bar Association.
Elon University declined comment on its plans.
Charlotte has not had a law school since the private Charlotte School of Law closed in 2017, a year after the ABA put it on probation amid questions of whether it was following basic admission standards and federal student aid laws.
Elon School of Law enrolled its largest first-year law class in August with 173 students, half of them from North Carolina, according to the university.
Existing law schools in North Carolina are run by Campbell University, Duke University, N.C. Central University, UNC Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University. High Point University plans to open its law school in August 2024.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to provide clarification on Elon University’s plans and the status of its application.