A problem-plagued Kentucky law school has announced that it will close at the end of the year.
The Barkley School of Law — formerly known as the American Justice School of Law — is withdrawing its application with the state for a license to operate in 2009.
The decision comes at the end of a turbulent year for the Paducah, Ky., institution, during which it faced a lawsuit, disturbing allegations by students, dwindling enrollment, new leadership, a name change and finally, a bankruptcy filing.
The decision to close the for-profit Barkley School of Law is “unavoidable” because of the financial obligations, mismanagement and negative publicity attached to the American Justice School of Law, said Barkley owner Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti in a statement released on Wednesday. Manchikanti also said that the Barkley School of Law will file for bankruptcy, just as the American Justice School of Law did in late September.
At that time, Barkley Dean Larry Putt said he was hopeful that the school could move forward and leave the problems associated with the American Justice School of Law behind, but that proved to be impossible. “I decided recently that given the burden left over from the previous operation, the school is just not viable,” Putt said on Wednesday.
The biggest of Barkley’s problems, according to Putt, is the debt associated with the library it inherited from the American Justice School of Law. The American Justice School of Law claimed about $6 million in debt when it filed for bankruptcy, and Putt estimates that at least $2 million of that was purchases made for the library.
“[American Justice School of Law leaders] invested wildly in the purchase of materials that are not even essential to the building of a competent library,” Putt said. “It boggles the mind.”
With a long list of vendors clamoring to be paid for their products and services, the Barkley library is in a tenuous position. For that reason, the school would not have passed the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education’s on-site facilities inspection that was scheduled for next week, Putt said.
Thus, he decided to pull the plug on the school, which currently has 10 full- and part-time students. Three of those students will graduate at the end of the year, Putt said.
The decision to close appears to be the final chapter in the short, strange history of Paducah’s law school.
The for-profit American Justice School of Law was founded in 2004 by a small group of investors who also had leadership roles at the institution. In November 2007, a group of students sued the administrators and owners of the American Justice School of Law, claiming a number of misdeeds. Among their allegations was that administrators delayed disbursing loans for living expenses, failed to inform students in a timely manner that the school was not accredited by the American Bar Association and did not maintain the facilities.
The suit was settled in February and a new group of investors — led by Manchikanti — took over. The school was renamed the Barkley School of Law in an effort to start fresh, and Putt was brought in to lead it. Though Putt initially hoped Barkley would be able to sever all ties with the bankrupted American Justice School of Law and perhaps purchase its land and facilities, that didn’t happen.
“I have not given up on the potential for a quality law school in Paducah, but given the circumstances, it is not viable to continue present efforts,” Manchikanti said in his statement.
This article was originally published online October 23, 2008.
