Florida Coastal School of Law is a for-profitlaw school in Jacksonville, Florida. Established in 1996, the school was founded upon three mission pillars: serving the underserved, providing an education that is student-outcome centered, and graduating students who are practice ready. The school is part of the InfiLaw System of law schools owned by Sterling Partners. Florida Coastal has filed an application with the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Accreditation to convert to non-profit status.
Accreditation
The school was fully accredited by the American Bar Association 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, in order to dispel what he deemed to be "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 remains 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 has been asked to submit a report by Feb. 1, 2021; and, if the council does not find the report demonstrates compliance, the school will be asked to appear before the council at its May, 2021 meeting.
Academics
In addition to its curriculum for a juris doctor, Coastal Law offers several certification programs in specialized areas of the law. Coastal Law currently offers an environmental law certificate, sports law certificate, international comparative law certificate, family law certificate, and an advanced legal research and writing certificate. Additionally, Coastal Law, offers accelerated dual degree programs, with Jacksonville University, that allow students to complete a juris doctor and a M.B.A. or a M.P.P. in four years.
Awards
In 2010, Coastal Law was the recipient of the American Bar Association E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award.
According to U.S. News & World Report, the average indebtedness of 2016 graduates who incurred law school debt was $158,878, and 70% of 2016 graduates took on debt.
Employment outcomes
Coastal Law's Law School Transparency score is 48.4%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2018 who obtained full-time long-term jobs practicing law within nine months of graduation, excluding solo practitioners.
Tuition and cost
The total cost of attendance at Coastal Law for the 2019-2020 academic year is $63,022. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $217,870.
Extracurricular activities
Moot Court
Each year, the University of Houston Law Center's Blakely Advocacy Institute ranks the top moot court programs in the United states by assessing the quality of the competition a school participated in, the size of the competitions, and the school's performance in those competitions. Florida Coastal has consistently ranked in the top 10 in those rankings:
Academic Year
Rank
2018-2019
2
2017-2018
9
2016-2017
20
2015-2016
15
2014-2015
1
2013-2014
1
2012-2013
2
2011-2012
5
Mock Trial
Coastal Law's Mock Trial team competes with law students across the state of Florida and the United States. The team members present their case before a judge and jury. Acceptance into the team is based upon a competitive meritocratic process that judges the student's ability and talent. Students are only eligible to try out for the Mock Trial team during their 1L year in law school.
Law Review
The Florida Coastal Law Review is a legal journal edited by second and third year law students under the guidance of law professors. The journals are retrievable through the legal databases LexisNexis and Westlaw. The journal is published three times a year. Students can join by being in the top 5% of their class or by submitting a high quality writing piece to law review.
