Abrams moves into dean's office as new head of Charleston's law school

Boosting bar pass rate, enhancing diversity top his agenda

By Diana Smith, Staff Writer

Strengthening bar pass rates, ramping up diversity efforts and fostering relationships with the local and state bars are among the top priorities for the new dean of the Charleston School of Law.

Andy Abrams, who was named as the institution's second dean earlier this month after six months in the interim role, said that the goals are part of the school's effort to achieve full accreditation by the American Bar Association.

The earliest that administrators can apply for full approval is in December.

Provisionally accredited since 2006, students at the law school already enjoy the main benefits of approval -- the ability to sit for the bar exam in all jurisdictions and eligibility for federal financial aid.

But the push for full accreditation is a major step for new law schools, proving that the institutions fully comply with the ABA standards for approval.

That means that faculty, facilities, curriculum, strategic plans and bar passage rates are on par with the 199 other ABA-approved schools nationwide.

The first class of CSOL graduates sat for the bar exam in July 2007, achieving a 69.9 percent pass rate. That figure was more than 20 percent lower than the University of South Carolina law school's.

Abrams said that school administrators were happy with the results given that it was CSOL's first stab at the exam.

"Obviously, our goal is 100 percent. We knew that the first time would be the most difficult and that presumably the lowest pass rates would be among the first class," Abrams said during an interview at his office. "Will it go up? Of course."

To that end, administrators added a bar-pass program to the curriculum, a for-credit course in the spring semester that is not required, but "strongly encouraged" for CSOL students, Abrams added.

The faculty will change its testing procedures to include more multiple-choice questions for the next class of exam hopefuls.

"The idea is to have the students treat studying for the bar exam as a job," he said. "We don't have the attitude that, 'We taught great, but man, they learned bad.' There's a relationship there, and their success is a reflection on us."

'Grow The Pool'

Because CSOL has named public service as its specialty, the administration must demonstrate to the ABA that it has taken special steps toward accomplishing that mission when it applies for full accreditation.

One way that the school will work toward that goal is by focusing on one of the current buzzwords in higher education: diversity.

Abrams noted that a problem for law schools is that the traditional method of recruitment -- sending representatives to college fairs -- does nothing to reach students who have never considered the legal profession as a viable career.

"Clearly we do that and will continue to do that, but the problem is that it doesn't grow the pool. All that means is that the pool of already interested students will remain constant and that you have all 200 law schools vying for the same students," Abrams told Lawyers Weekly. "If that's the case, you're never really changing the aggregate effect; you're just splitting them up like they're deck chairs."

Rather than focus solely on minority recruitment, Abrams said that CSOL will intensify its efforts to attract students from varied socio-economic backgrounds.

The school's diversity office is currently developing an outreach program that will send representatives into high schools in underprivileged areas, which will target minority and non-minority students alike.

Calling it the "K-through-practice" model, Abrams said that the program will enable younger students to learn about lawyering and how the legal profession can impact their communities.

Other institutions are also picking up on the trend.

The USC law school was recently awarded a $1,000 grant from the Law School Admission Council that will allow its staff to visit minority high schools and take students on field trips to visit the law school, according to USC law school admissions director Isabel DiSciullo.

According to Abrams, the K-through-practice model at CSOL will have an added long-term benefit: diversifying law firms.

"Increasingly, what we hear from law firms is that they're struggling to diversify and they look to us and say, 'Why aren't you producing a more diverse student body?' Clients are looking at them and saying, 'Well, how diverse is your firm?' Suddenly, you're seeing that law schools and law firms are beginning to recognize that it is in their mutual best interest for all of us to find ways to make the legal profession an attractive career."

Sue Erwin Harper, who chairs the diversity committee for Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, agreed.

"We need to have attorneys from all walks of life," she said. "Our clients are diverse, and their customers are diverse, so we need to show that within the firm as well.

"My understanding from placement officers at the law schools is that their diversity numbers are right up there and are continuing to grow," Harper said.

Indeed, applications for full-time minority students for the fall 2008 entering class at CSOL totaled 196 -- up from just 69 last year.

Fundraising is another key objective for CSOL in order to attract students from low-income areas, Abrams said. The school has budgeted $1.65 million in scholarship funds for 2008-2009, a 20 percent increase from last year.

'Mutual Shared Interest'

Cultivating relationships with the local and state bars is also high on the agenda for the school administration as it continues to pursue full ABA accreditation.

CSOL offers free CLEs and serves as a site for continuing education programs from outside agencies and also has an open-door policy for attorneys who wish to use its electronic library, Abrams said.

"The library has been a huge resource for the local bar because we have access to electronic information that the standard lawyer might find to be cost-prohibitive to access on their own," he said.

The school also hires attorneys from the community to serve as adjunct professors, teaching topics ranging from legal writing to intellectual property.

Marvin Infinger, president-elect of the Charleston County Bar Association, described the school's relationship with local lawyers as "synergistic."

"What stands out most in my mind is the school's requirement for each student to complete [30 hours] of pro bono work," Infinger said. "There has been a great collaboration between the bar association and the students who give time towards those efforts."

The class of 2008 contributed 14,296 hours of recorded pro bono service in the past three years, according to the school's Web site.

Said Abrams, "We want members of the bar involved in the life of this law school. For us, it really needs to be a symbiotic relationship. We each have a mutual shared interest in trying to create the best lawyers we can. Fundamentally, it's even broader than that.

"How do we enhance the legal profession and impact the law and this community? That's why this school is here. That's my mantra," he said.

Biography: Andy Abrams

Hometown: Greenville

Background: A former trial lawyer, Abrams previously served in several administrative positions at the College of Charleston, including: provost, senior vice president for strategic planning and administration, general counsel and tenured professor of legal studies. He joined the Charleston School of Law in August 2005. Beginning in January, Abrams became interim dean and was officially named to the post in June.

Areas of Interest: Sports law and education law.

Education: LL.M, University of Virginia; J.D., University of South Carolina School of Law; bachelor's degree in political science, Furman University.

Family: Wife, Karen; children Courtney and Alex.

Questions or comments may be directed to the writer at diana.smith@sc.lawyersweekly.com.