Dear CSOL Alumni Association Board Members, It has been quite a day for the Charleston School of Law. I am sure your inboxes and phones have been busy. In case you have not heard, Fits News published a post this morning that the law school was being sold to InfiLaw. www.infilaw.com The school released a statement tonight on its website, announcing that it entered into a management services agreement with InfiLaw. I know many rumors have flown all over the internet and facebook today. I spoke to Dean Abrams and the Alumni Association Board Officers this afternoon. My goal was to get the facts and then decide the best path forward. We learned this afternoon that the school entered into a provisional contract with InfiLaw to become part of its consortium of independent law schools. This cannot happen overnight as it requires approval of various educational entities, one being the ABA. We are told that the process will take anywhere from seven months to one year. Many of you have emailed me and some have requested an emergency meeting. At this time, we do not feel that an emergency meeting is necessary. It is our understanding the agreement with InfiLaw is already in place and only subject to the approval of the appropriate entities. We believe it is both our responsibility and our duty to learn the position of our many alumni and provide a voice and an outlet for that opinion to get to the most effective person or entity. The Board officers had a conference call tonight and came up with two potential action items. First, we plan to give the alumni a way to present their concerns to the ABA to oppose the approval of the transfer. To do this, we will create an online petition at change.org and also draft a form letter for alumni to sign and send individually to the ABA committee in charge of this particular type of approval. Second, assuming there is a strong opposition to the transfer to InfiLaw from our board, we will write a letter to the Board of Advisors and the Founders regarding the alumni’s opposition to the transfer. We plan to have the petition created and letter drafted to send to alumni next week. We have a Board meeting already set for next Thursday. Unfortunately, I have a conflict that night and may not be on the call. If it is possible to change it to Wednesday, I would like to do that as this will be an important meeting. Let me know if you are unavailable on Wednesday and would rather keep the meeting on Thursday. Please call or email me with further concerns or avenues for the alumni to make their sentiments known in a way that we believe can affect a change. Sincerely, Kathleen
— Kathleen Chewning 843-505-1185 kchewn@gmail.com
Kathleen Chewning
On behalf of the Charleston School of Law Alumni Association, we want the alumni to know that we are working on a plan for the alumni’s action in response to the news about the agreement with and potential sale of the school to InfiLaw. We first learned of this issue yesterday. It is apparent from the many posts on this page, phone calls, and emails we have received that the alumni disagree with this course of action and are eager to have their voices heard. We have been in communication with the law school, and the Board of the Alumni Association will meet next week to finalize a plan for the alumni to present a united front on this issue. We will keep you informed and notify you of the details to move forward in addressing this issue as soon as possible.
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