Arizona Summit Law School

Reviews

• ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
  I am currently in my last year of law school and it has been an amazing but rigorous experience. The faculty and professors are the best. The curriculum is challenging to say the very least but I truly believe they have equipped me to be successful on the bar exam when I return to Texas. I am thankful for the opportunity that I was given to study and master the law. President Lively, and Dean Willrich are invested in the success of the students. I would recommend my school to anyone who is interested in attending law school. Moreover, I believe Summit will overcome the negative publicity and get back to its roots. High bar passage rate!
  By Deitra Greene, October 16, 2017
• ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
  I would give zero stars if I could. I've been silent for many years, hoping I could work things out with this school, but their mission pillar of "student-centered" long since was consigned to the trash heap of history. I started as a summer 2006 start when this school (then known as Phoenix School of Law) was just starting out in the Scottsdale Airpark. Despite the Great Recession costing me three homes and my partner of 17 years, I managed to crawl across the finish line in May 2009 with the 87 credits needed to graduate. But, along comes a spider... The first issue with the school is the advising is non-existent. No one reminded me that I needed to be working on an academic paper to graduate. I was involved in many activities, such as being selected as one of the inaugural student justices on the honor court; participating in moot court competition (I won order of the barristers in 2007), founding student organizations Justice for All and Students Serving Other Students, and fighting lawsuits and creditors hounding us in the foreclosure crisis, so I was one of several students that slipped through the cracks. In fact, we should not have been allowed to enroll in our third year without some sort of verification that we were working on the paper, a change the school created later. The second issue is the school then took adverse action against without notifying me at all. Despite the fact I've had the same cell phone and email service for 20 years, I was abruptly "disenrolled" in the fall of 2009 while I was trying to scramble to finish the paper. No notice, no comment, nothing. This was a very challenging time for me as I had no money and my partner and I broke up in August, 2009, after 17 years together. A friendly professor helped me put things together but the school decided that I needed to spend more money with a two-credit extended study program, starting in the summer of 2012, even though the professor herself wrote that, given the school's failure to properly academically advise or provide proper notice, I should not have to pay. Unfortunately, life was not done throwing me curve balls, and in July 2012, my last surviving parent died abruptly of lung cancer at age 65. I requested another extension in January 2013 and was brutally ignored. Fast forward to 2017. I have the funds now to cure the financial issues. I approached the school to finish the paper and was summarily dismissed. Against, nothing in writing, no letter, no notice, just "too bad, the admissions committee voted to reject your petition, so we can't help you." My argument would be the school is estopped from claiming I've waited too long, and ABA rules now permit schools to accept applicants with delays like mine if life circumstances warranted it. The school has my $120k+ in tuition, and they feel no need to step up to help a past student who needs help. So, if you are considering attending one of the most expensive private law schools in the nation, keep this in mind. If nothing bad in life happens to you, you might be fine. But, don't count on any real assistance from the cold and lazy administration, who can't be bothered to notify you if you are yourself are placed on academic probation or are terminated. Due process apparently plays no role here. Speaking of probation, be aware this school is on "academic probation" of sorts, suspended by the ABA in March 2017 because their bar passage rate has dropped to a dismal 25%. The entire Infilaw system is in considerable distress, and Charlotte School of Law (a sister school) apparently is on life support. The school may not be around much longer, and I for one will not lament their passing. You reap what you sow. As for what I allegedly still owe them, they can go pound sand.
  By Don Burns, May 01, 2017

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