After a setback last summer, InfiLaw has flown under the radar in its quest to acquire the Charleston School of Law. Since July 2013, the private equity-owned consortium of three for-profit law schools—Florida Coastal, Charlotte, and Arizona Summit (formerly the University of Phoenix)—has been trying to add Charleston to its portfolio by purchasing it from the school’s founders. (For more on InfiLaw, see Paul Campos’ recent article in The Atlantic.)
The persistence of InfiLaw’s effort alone says something about the situation: There’s money to be made in legal education. Venture capitalists specialize in finding opportunities for above-average investment returns. It doesn’t matter to them that the main source of that money is federal student loans. Nor do they care if the vast majority of students who obtain those loans to attend marginal schools are unable find J.D.-required employment. If there’s a market failure to exploit for profit, they’re on it.
