Florida Coastal School of Law

Florida Coastal School of Law was a private for-profit law school in Jacksonville, Florida. It was established in 1996 and was the last operating of three for-profit law schools of the InfiLaw System owned by Sterling Partners. Because of funding and accreditation issues, the school closed its doors in 2021. U.S. News & World Report ranks Coastal Law 147-193, its lowest law school ranking. In July 2022, the school had the lowest Florida bar passage rate of all Florida law schools, at 31%. Accreditation and closure The school was originally accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) in 2002. In October 2017, the school received a letter from the ABA stating that Florida Coastal was not in compliance with several ABA academic standards, and requiring the school to submit a report by November 1, 2017, regarding the school's efforts to return to compliance, in advance of an appearance before the ABA Accreditation Committee in March 2018. The school's dean sent a letter to the student body, responding to the ABA letter, seeking to dispel what he said were "misconceptions" about the ABA's letter. At its May 2019 meeting, the ABA found Florida Coastal fully in compliance with the ABA standards. Florida Coastal remained a fully ABA accredited law school. On May 15, 2020, the council of the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar met remotely and determined this school and nine others had significant noncompliance with Standard 316. This standard was revised in 2019 to provide that at least 75% of an accredited law school’s graduates who took a bar exam must pass one within two years of graduation. The school was asked to submit a report by February 1, 2021; and, if the council did not find the report demonstrated compliance, the school would be asked to appear before the council at its May 2021 meeting. By August 2020, Florida Coastal School of Law was able to demonstrate compliance, asserting that 75% of its 2018 graduates had passed a bar exam, and the 2019 cohort was on track for similarly-qualifying results.