The Nashville School of Law has managed to train and incubate a high proportion of local politicians, judges and community leaders, and the numbers of enrolled students grow annually. "Since its inception as a night law school almost 100 years over, Nashville School of Law has opened doors for so many people in so many walks of life," said Beth McDonald, registrar for the school. "The faculty and students who grace these halls are continually some of the brightest, most dedicated people with a strong desire to know and practice the law in this state."

Graduates of NSL include Metro Councilman JB Loring, Senator Joe Haynes and Senator Harlan Matthews. Several well-known judges are also NSL graduates, such as Mark Fishburn and Frank Clement. The Middle Tennessee judiciary includes 57 NSL graduates. Statewide there are 97 total NSL alumni who serve as judges, ranging from general sessions to circuit court to the court of appeals. The Nashville School of Law, located on Armory Oaks Drive, used to be one of many YMCA night law schools across the country. NSL leaders have looked into affiliating with larger schools, like Tennessee State University, and sought accreditation, but the idea has never taken hold. The school is unaccredited by the American Bar Association, meaning that graduates cannot always practice outside the state of Tennessee. And bar passage rates for NSL grads in 2005 were lower than state averages - 68 percent, compared to an average of 82 percent in Tennessee.

Adele Anderson, the Nashville-based administrator for the Board of Law Examiners, cautioned not to compare bar passage rates too strictly, at least as a measure of program quality, because so many NSL students maintain families and full-time jobs outside of school. She added that, in Tennessee, NSL students approved to take the bar exam are treated no differently in the licensure process than students graduating from accredited schools, such as the Vanderbilt University School of Law. "NSL [is] filling a niche on its own," Anderson said. "I think people really appreciate that it is a night law school, so you can still have your job and your family." Anderson said accreditation costs schools millions per year. NSL is able to keep its tuition relatively low "$388 per credit hour" by not being accredited. In Nashville, graduates of the school penetrate all levels of the legal system and local government. A benefit to the school, students say, is that alumni work together and refer clients to one another. That's a large network, especially when NSL professors - most of whom are practicing local attorneys - are added to the mix. Several of the city's largest law firms have policies about not accepting employees from unaccredited schools, but outside of that, job prospects are considered fairly good locally. The school maintains a registry of students and alumni.

According to school information, all graduates seeking employment have jobs, with 96 percent employed in the legal professions. NSL graduates also head up the Board of Professional Responsibility, the disciplinary body for attorneys. Adam Dread, an at-large Metro Councilman, said he is one of at least five members of Metro Council who graduated from the school. The list includes Greg Atkins, J.B. Loring and John Sommers. Dread said he doubts many of the local politicians who have attended NSL would have attended law school if the school wasn't in place, because most programs don't permit students to work in their first year. "You graduate and you go to court for the first time, and you see a lot of familiar faces," Dread said. Dread attended the school because he planned to go into politics, and wanted to be a "better legislator." Prior to NSL, he worked as an author and corporate spokesperson. He was elected to public office while still an NSL student, and now works at the Hillsboro Village law firm Durham and Dread. Unlike the majority of his classmates, Dread didn't have a full-time job or a family to maintain while in school. There were weddings, divorces and babies born to classmates throughout Dread's time there. People from all walks of life were in his classes, including doctors, teachers, government workers, court officers and police officers. "I had it pretty easy compared to my classmates," he said. Dread also refers cases to attorneys who worked as his professors while an NSL student. And after leaving the school, Dread hired NSL's former head librarian, Janet Naff, at his law firm. "I'm so glad I had that opportunity. I hope the school stays with its original mission. I wouldn't have my career in law today without it," Dread said. "I think it's made me a better politician and able to write better laws."

Current student Erica Chitwood said she values the practical education she receives at NSL. Most of the case law is from Tennessee, and all students are required to participate in moot court - simulated trials that go all the way to appeals. Chitwood began attending NSL by default - after finishing an undergraduate degree in political science at University of Tennessee Chattanooga, she applied to several other schools and was rejected, then applied at NSL immediately before deadline and was admitted. Her GPA now has her near the top of her class. In hindsight, she says, she would choose NSL over any of the schools she originally applied for. "I worry that it doesn't get the credit that it deserves," Chitwood said. "You really do walk away being able to practice."

By Amy Griffith
From The Nashville City Paper, Nashville, TN, USA