Summit Law School locked out of offices

August rent unpaid after fall classes were canceled

An Arizona Summit Law School official said the private school has been locked out of its downtown Phoenix offices after failing to make an August rent payment.

Arizona Summit Interim President Peter Goplerud said the school’s landlord took the “draconian” measure of locking them out of their rented space at One North Central, near Central Avenue and Washington Street. He said the school’s administrative offices have moved to a location across the street.

Goplerud said school officials opted not to pay August rent when they made the recent decision not to offer fall classes.

A representative for the company that handles leases at One North Central could not immediately be reached for comment.

Summit officials are working to help students transfer to other schools and are also negotiating a “teach-out plan” with Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law to help students complete their law degrees.

“The closure of the old building by the landlord is not interfering in any way with our ability to assist the students who have transferred,” he told the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education, the agency that licenses for-profit schools.

The state board’s executive director, Teri Stanfill, asked Arizona Summit officials to update the board at its monthly meeting Thursday, after school officials earlier this month abruptly informed students via email that the school wouldn’t offer classes this fall. The decision caught many students by surprise, leaving them frustrated and stressed.

Arizona Summit, previously known as Phoenix School of Law, has been in downward spiral over the last two years stemming from its decision to enroll too many students with lower academic credentials. The result was dismal success rates on the state Bar exam, with only 31 percent of graduates passing the Arizona Bar Exam on the first try, according to the most recent exam results.

The school’s accrediting body, the American Bar Association, put Arizona Summit on probation in March 2017 and in June notified the school that it planned to yank its accreditation. Arizona Summit is appealing the move, and a final decision is expected in midOctober.

If the law school loses accreditation, Arizona Summit likely won’t be able to continue operating. Graduating from an ABA-accredited law school is required to take the Bar exam in many states, including Arizona. And passing the exam is required to practice law in most states.

Enrollment at the school had dwindled to around 100 by this summer. Since then, 19 have graduated and another four students are expected to graduate after the recently completed summer term.

Goplerud said 44 Arizona Summit students have chosen to transfer to other schools with another 21 considered “visiting students” at other law schools this fall, including at ASU and Florida Coastal School of Law. Florida Coastal is owned by the same company that operates Arizona Summit.

Three students have taken a “leave of absence” this fall, he said, and administrators are still working with a handful of other students on their options for this semester, he said.

ASU and Arizona Summit are in discussions for a separate “teach-out plan” to accommodate Arizona Summit students in January if the school loses accreditation. The plan would allow students to complete their education through Arizona Summit by taking classes at ASU.

Goplerud said on Thursday that the two schools are “closer to having an agreed-upon plan” and “we’re working diligently on that.”

Arizona Summit officials originally approached ASU in July to get the teach-out plan ready for the fall semester. But the two schools were unable to make it work because of all the entities that need to approve the plan, including ASU, the ABA and the U.S. Department of Education.

As recently as July, Arizona Summit officials gave no hint they might not offer classes this fall.