Elon University Plans Full-Time Law Program in Charlotte Starting Fall 2027

Elon University will launch a full-time Juris Doctor program in Charlotte beginning fall 2027. Applications open this fall. Students can apply to both full-time and part-time flex programs at the Queens University campus.

The new full-time program takes two and a half years, not three. Students graduate earlier and can get licensed faster, said Elon Law dean Zak Kramer. Costs drop because students pay tuition for one fewer semester.

Elon Law has run a part-time flex program in Charlotte's South End since 2024. The flex model offers specialized courses in banking, health care, sports, and entertainment. Classes meet at night so working adults can switch careers without quitting their jobs.

"When people are at different life stages or different places in their career, the ability to access a legal education without having to, in the case of Elon's Charlotte flex program, potentially, uproot from your family and from your job for up to three years to move to the Triad or the Triangle," said President of the Mecklenburg Bar Association Sarah Motley Stone, according to the Carolina Public Press. "It's a tremendous way to give people access to legal education in a way that fits with where they are."

The program comes after a 2025 merger between Elon and Charlotte-based Queens University. All six of North Carolina's law schools sit in the Triangle and Triad regions.

Charlotte was the largest city in the country without a law school until the flex program opened in 2024. The city once had Charlotte School of Law, which InfiLaw System founded in 2005. The American Bar Association placed that school on probation in 2016. Officials ordered it to tell students about failings in admissions policies and curriculum. The government revoked its access to federal student loans. The school closed in 2017.

Only 45% of Charlotte Law graduates passed the bar on their first try. The state average was about 65%. Just 34% of graduates found full-time jobs that required passing the bar in 2014.

John Lassiter is president of Carolina Legal Staffing and former president of the Mecklenburg Bar Association. He said Charlotte has benefited from North Carolina law schools and the University of South Carolina School of Law for hiring new graduates. The real problem? Law students who desire a summer internship in Charlotte may find it challenging due to the distance.

Wake Forest University welcomed its first class of medical students to its Charlotte campus in 2025. UNC-Chapel Hill began offering an MBA program in Charlotte in 2022.