About NSL
EXCELLENCE IN LEGAL EDUCATION.
The mission of Nashville School of Law is to provide high-quality legal education at an affordable tuition.
Nashville School of Law (NSL) is a private non-profit law school founded in 1911 that offers high-quality legal education at an affordable tuition. Classes are held exclusively at night. Most students enrolled in the School continue full-time employment throughout their law school career. Our students are teachers, police officers, paralegals, insurance agents, doctors, business owners, factory workers, real estate agents and various professionals too numerous to list. Our students appreciate the opportunity to study law while continuing to pursue their present career and pay for their education at the same time.
Course of Study
Obtaining a J.D. requires a minimum of four years of study. Classes begin in August and end in May and are held Monday through Thursday from 4:45 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. First-year and second-year students attend classes two nights per week. Third-year and fourth-year students attend classes three nights per week.
Reciprocity with Other States
The Tennessee Supreme Court has also recognized that law schools in other states similar to the Nashville School of Law prepare their students to be successful and ethical legal professionals. Accordingly, beginning on January 1, 2016, the Court amended Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 7, § 2.02 to enable graduates of law schools in other states that are not accredited by the ABA to be considered for admission to practice law in Tennessee by examination.
53
Number of faculty members, which, includes federal, state, and local judges and noted attorneys.
118
Number of graduates who are state and local judges
20-74
Age range of the current student body.
In 1911, four graduates of Vanderbilt Law School founded the YMCA Night Law School in Nashville, Tennessee. Their intent was to provide working men and women with a quality legal education at an affordable price.
Commitment to an Evening Program
Throughout the School’s history, its leaders have stayed true to its historic mission to provide a quality legal education to working men and women at an affordable price. On several occasions, the School has participated in serious merger discussions with other public and private colleges and universities in Tennessee. While all these discussions were cordial and serious, none resulted in an affiliation agreement.
During all these negotiations, the School maintained its commitment to offering evening classes at an affordable price. Accordingly, it insisted that any agreement contain iron-clad commitments that the evening program would not be closed and that the program’s cost would not become a barrier to admission. Because the institutions desiring to acquire the School envisioned opening ABA-accredited full-time programs, they were willing to agree only that they would continue to operate the evening program as long as it was financially viable. Without an assurance of the continuation of an affordable evening program, the School declined to proceed with the affiliation discussions.
Keeping Legal Education Affordable
Recent studies demonstrate that the rate of increase in the cost of legal education nationwide outstrips the rate of inflation. Many attribute this phenomenon to the costs associated with obtaining and maintaining ABA accreditation and with the financial pressures resulting from the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings. While these programs are intended to maintain the quality of legal education in the United States, there is growing concern that they may be imposing requirements that increase costs without conferring commensurate benefits.
The effects of the increasing cost of legal education are significant and far reaching. Tuition is becoming an insurmountable barrier for many persons aspiring to become lawyers. The burden falls more heavily on financially disadvantaged and minority groups and, thus, results in less diverse law school classes. Tuition discounting has become commonplace. However, rather than being need-based, the discounting favors applicants with high LSAT scores and undergraduate grade point averages whose admission will bolster a law school’s U.S. News & World Report ranking. As a result, many law students with solid but less than stellar credentials are not offered discounts. Without discounts, these students either pursue other careers or attend law school without a discount and subsidize the cost of educating their higher-performing classmates.
Despite the prevalence of discounting, many students are forced to borrow heavily to pay for their legal education. Educational loans have been relatively easy to obtain, and so by all accounts, the amount of law school debt in the United States has skyrocketed. The effects of this debt are pernicious. A heavy debt load limits career options and makes it difficult to put the spirit of public service into practice. Students with significant debt need jobs with sufficient income to repay their student loans. Students’ career horizons narrow as the amount of their debt increases because jobs with salaries sufficient to pay the debt and to maintain a decent standard of living are becoming scarce.
Carrying a large debt and heavy interest burden is no way to begin a legal career. Many students who have incurred significant law school debt cannot afford entry-level public sector jobs or to work for legal services organizations, small or medium sized firms, or to begin a solo practice. Accordingly, law school debt contributes significantly to the legal profession’s current inability to make quality legal services available to under-served communities. The profession’s ability to advance the Rule of Law will be undermined further if future lawyers are priced out of the profession.
The School’s historic mission requires it to control the cost of its legal education. The School’s ability to fulfill its mission will be undermined if the cost of its education is beyond the students’ ability to pay.
The United States is fortunate to have many fine law schools that prepare their students to practice law. While ABA accreditation has promoted uniformity in legal education, the School does not subscribe to a “one-size-fits-all” model of legal education or to the notion that higher cost per student means higher educational quality. Consistent with the calls for different models of legal education, the School believes that there is room for “cost-saving teaching law schools.” As one leader in legal education observed at an ABA Accreditation Committee meeting in 2007, all law schools need not be the “Ritz Carlton.”
Unlike other law schools constrained by the costs associated with ABA accreditation and the U.S. News & World Report rankings, the School’s leaders have been able to control the costs without undermining effectiveness. The five areas that account for the significant part of our savings are: (1) the cost of the salaries and benefits for a full-time faculty, (2) the cost to support a full-time faculty, (3) the cost to subsidize a faculty’s academic research and writing, (4) the cost of maintaining a full-service, academically oriented law library, and (5) the cost associated with amenities and programs required for full-time students that are not necessary for part-time students.
Currently, the School’s annual tuition and fees range between $7,500 for first-year students to $10,680 for fourth-year students. These amounts are less than 50% of the annual resident tuition and fees currently charged by Tennessee’s two public law schools. They are between 15% and 25% of the annual tuition and fees currently charged by Tennessee’s three other private law schools. As a result, the entire cost of earning a J.D. degree from our school, including tuition, fees, and all instructional materials, is less than the current cost of attending one of Tennessee’s other private law schools for one year, and it is approximately 50% of the cost of earning a J.D. degree at Tennessee’s two public law schools.
| Year | Cost |
|---|---|
|
First Year |
$9,100 |
|
Second Year |
$9,500 |
|
Third Year |
$12,000 |
|
Fourth Year |
$15,000 |
|
Estimated Total Expenses |
$45,600 |
Distinguished and Successful Graduates
Committed men and women have the power to remake themselves and to remake the communities in which they live. The School provides its students with the catalyst to make these changes. Success is measured by the success of the graduates, and the School’s graduates have succeeded in a broad range of careers.
The School’s graduates are practicing in 90 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. In some counties, every practicing lawyer is an NSL graduate. Many graduates have become judges. More than 100 graduates serve as state and local judges. One graduate served as Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Two others have been elected to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, and one has been elected to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. Four of the six criminal court judges in Nashville are NSL graduates.
The School’s graduates also can be found among the ranks of federal, state, and local officials. The School counts two United States Senators and one member of the United States House of Representatives among its graduates, as well as many current and former members of the Tennessee General Assembly and other local legislative bodies. One of the School’s graduates has served as State Treasurer; another has served as a member of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority; and another is a member of the Tennessee Board of Parole.
Many graduates have distinguished themselves in criminal justice and law enforcement, including elected District Attorneys General and District Public Defenders. Scores of assistant district attorneys and assistant public defenders also graduated from our school. Many members of law enforcement are also NSL graduates.
In addition, NSL graduates have found success in business and community service. They are counted among Nashville and Middle Tennessee’s top bankers and wealth managers, real estate developers, financiers, entrepreneurs, and business owners. The civic contributions of two NSL graduates are so respected that the Nashville Bar Association and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee have named their most prestigious community service award in their honor.
The School is now an integral part of Tennessee’s legal history. True to its historic mission, it continues to be a unique institution where today’s leaders of the bench and bar teach tomorrow’s lawyers. It remains a place where dreams are fulfilled, where lives are changed, and where opportunities are created.
Approval by the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners
The School’s graduates are eligible to take the Tennessee bar examination based on the approval of the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners pursuant to Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 7, § 2.03. The Tennessee Supreme Court amended the rule in 2001 to provide detailed standards for approving law schools that are not ABA-accredited and empowered the Board of Law Examiners to scrutinize these schools to ascertain their compliance with the standards. The graduates of schools that meet these standards are deemed eligible to take the Tennessee bar examination.
The current standards in Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 7, § 2.03 require law schools to adopt a statement of mission and an independent governing board composed of persons who are not members of the School’s faculty. They cover the School’s (a) organization and administration, (b) faculty, (c) facilities, (d) library, (e) curriculum, admissions standards, and (f) the publication of basic consumer information.
When these standards were adopted, the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners retained an experienced legal educator with expertise in evaluating law schools seeking ABA accreditation to determine whether the School complied with the new standards. After the evaluator reported that the School satisfied Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 7, § 2.03’s requirements, the Board approved the School and authorized its students to seek admission to the Tennessee bar by examination. The Board has continuously approved the School since the new standards were adopted in 2001.
Quality Practical Curriculum
The School’s curriculum is designed to prepare and empower its students for professionally rewarding and financially sustainable careers. Rewarding legal careers are not limited to large corporate law firms. They can also be found in the public and nonprofit sectors, in business, and in other private practice settings. In fact, the great majority of legal jobs in the private sector today are in small and medium sized firms and in solo practice.
The School’s students study law to become lawyers, not legal scholars. Accordingly, the curriculum is not focused solely on traditional casebook courses that emphasize legal doctrine and theory. The courses emphasize the practice skills and competencies required to be an ethical and effective professional. While understanding that a lawyer’s education should neither begin nor end in law school, the School’s increased emphasis on writing and oral communication skills, experiential training, and professionalism enables the students to be more practice-ready than many of their contemporaries.
Legal education must keep pace with the rapid and significant changes in the practice of law. Accordingly, the School continuously examines and adjusts its curriculum to better prepare its students for the challenges of modern legal practice.
In a 2012 self-study report, the School addressed the challenges resulting from the dramatic increase in applications beginning in 2000. The School had moved into new, larger quarters in 2005 and had added a second class in 2007 to accommodate more students without increasing the size of the existing class. Focusing on admissions, curriculum, attrition, and bar passage rate, the report noted the importance of (1) providing additional academic support for first-year students, (2) offering additional courses to improve bar exam readiness, and (3) increasing the grade point average required to advance and graduate.
The School conducted a needs assessment in 2014. Included in this assessment was a survey enabling students, graduates, and faculty (1) to identify the current curriculum’s strengths and weaknesses, (2) to identify and prioritize those competencies lawyers should have at the beginning of their careers, and (3) to recommend the courses and other programs that would be most effective in training students in these competencies.
On several occasions prior to 2015, the deans at the University of Tennessee College of Law and Vanderbilt Law School certified to licensing boards in other states that the School’s curriculum was substantially equivalent to the curriculum at an ABA-accredited law school. In 2015, the School retained University of Tennessee Dean Doug Blaze and Vanderbilt Associate Dean Susan Kay to review its curriculum and to recommend adjustments in light of current ABA curriculum standards. Relying on their extensive law school accreditation experience, on-site visits, and review of the School’s faculty and academic policies, Deans Blaze and Kay provided recommendations designed to assure that the School’s curriculum continued to mirror the curriculum at ABA-approved schools.
Upon receipt of the deans’ report, the School appointed an Education Excellence Task Force consisting of staff, faculty, students, and graduates to prioritize the action items in the report and to recommend how they should be carried out. The School began to implement the deans’ suggestions in 2016 and completed many of them during 2016 and 2017. To further improve the quality of its education, the School continues to implement the recommendations in the deans’ report, to monitor the results of the changes already made, and to make further improvements based on these results.
The School continues to require students to take traditional casebook courses in every subject tested on the Tennessee bar examination. However, the School also has increased the graduation requirements by mandating successful completion of additional required and elective courses. Among the most significant curriculum changes are:
- An expanded orientation program for first-year law students, focusing on professionalism, study skills, and stress management and well-being. During orientation, the students are required to take a professionalism oath administered by a member of the Tennessee Supreme Court.
- An innovative writing mentor program that requires students to complete a rigorous writing requirement under the supervision of judges or practicing lawyers selected by the School.
- Three new trial practice programs focusing on general civil, criminal, and family law practice.
- New elective courses focusing on negotiation skills, civil motion practice, deposition strategy, accounting for lawyers, and public advocacy.
- Expanded clinic programs, including a wills clinic offered in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity and a juvenile court custody clinic.
- Increased opportunities for students to participate in limited practice internships approved by the Tennessee Supreme Court under Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 7.
Along with the expanded course offerings, the School has added courses and programs intended to better prepare students to be successful on the bar exam. Students are now required to take a substantive bar preparation course and to participate in a bar exam skills workshop during their final year of school. Students must also take practice bar exams at the end of the first and second years. In addition, the format of all written exams now must conform to the format of the questions on the bar exam.
While the School’s historic mission has been to give students an opportunity to earn a law degree, the students understand that with every opportunity to succeed comes an opportunity to fail. The students know they must earn their grades. The School assists students experiencing academic difficulties. However, when students continue to have academic difficulties even with assistance, the School’s practice is to counsel them regarding the likelihood of their success in law school and on the bar exam. The School collects data on all students to be better able to monitor their progress and to assess their success. This data enables the School to intervene in a more timely way to offer assistance to students who need it.
In addition to the expansion of course offerings, the School completed a substantial revision of its academic policies in 2017. The policies contain (a) a new grading scale and suggested grade distribution, (b) new advancement requirements, (c) revised attendance requirements, and (d) new examination protocols.
Talented and Experienced Faculty
The quality of the School’s faculty complements its curriculum. The 43 adjunct professors collectively have more than 1,200 years of practice experience. Eleven are judges, and one is a former member of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Several have received adjunct appointments at other colleges, universities, and law schools. Current faculty members have earned law degrees at Cumberland School of Law, Emory University, Fordham University, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Indiana University – Maurer, Loyola Law School (Los Angeles), Nashville School of Law, the Universities of Cincinnati, Kentucky, Memphis, Mississippi, Michigan, Tennessee, Toledo, and Virginia, Stanford University Vanderbilt University, Wake Forest University, and Wayne State University.
Faculty members are selected with specific reference to their experience and expertise in the subject they will teach. For example, the professor who teaches Bankruptcy is the Chapter 13 Trustee in Middle Tennessee. The Wills professor is one of the authors of Tennessee’s definitive text on wills and administration of estates. A criminal court judge, Nashville’s District Attorney General, and an experienced public defender teach the criminal law and practice courses. In addition, the School selects faculty members based on their engagement with the legal and the broader community. Accordingly, the current faculty includes a former TBA president.
Faculty members are expected to strike an appropriate balance between the theoretical and practical. Their performance is evaluated based on their work with students both inside and outside the classroom, not on the frequency of their publications. It is not uncommon for mentoring relationships to grow between students and the faculty, which last long after students graduate and enter the practice of law.