Elon University will open Charlotte’s only full-time law school in 2027

Elon University will launch a full-time law program in Charlotte — the city’s first since Charlotte School of Law closed in 2017.

Elon previously launched a flex, part-time law program in Charlotte’s south end in August 2024. The first full-time cohort in fall 2027 will have about 75 students. The program will operate on an accelerated, trimester-based schedule, with students aiming to complete their degrees in two and a half years.

“When we launched the flex program, we noted that Charlotte was the largest city in the country without a law school,” Zak Kramer, dean of Elon University’s Law School said Tuesday. “Right now, if you want to practice law in Charlotte, you have to come from somewhere else.”

Elon’s full-time and part-time law programs will be housed at Queens University of Charlotte, south of uptown. The two schools previously announced plans to merge in September, with the merger set to be complete by August 2026.

“We know this will strengthen Charlotte’s legal ecosystem. We’ve done the research,” Elon President Connie Book said Tuesday. “We know it will expand access to justice and prepare lawyers who understand this community because they are educated within it or from it.”

Queens and Elon signed the definitive merger agreement in December, Book said, and this week the universities are standing up their integration teams, with former Elon senior staff member and advisor to the school’s president, Jeff Stein, named chief integration officer. No new name for the merged school has officially been chosen.

Before the merger announcement, Book said, plans were already in the works to open a full-time law school, but the merger with Queens fast-tracks its opening and will save Elon an estimated $31 million.

“We were going to have a full-time law program, even if the merger hadn’t been realized, but ... I don’t have to build a new library, a new dining office,” Book said. “So, the cost avoidance of the merger is also very powerful, and it lets us, as Elon, invest resources, and quite honestly, save students tuition money.”

Elon opened its first full-time law school in Greensboro in 2006. This school year, the all-in tuition for law students in the program is about $136,000, Kramer said.

In July, professional student loan borrowers, including students in medical and law school, will be capped at $50,000 per year or $200,000 in total federal student loans for graduate education. That’s due to changes President Trump signed into law last summer. Kramer said he hopes the shorter length of Elon’s program in Charlotte will help make it more affordable.

“It saves time and it saves money. So, our students graduate in December, they take the bar in February, they are licensed and ready to practice before most third-year students have graduated anywhere else in the country,” he said. “So, it not only shaves costs but also gets them out into the market.”

Elon plans to continue to operate its south end Charlotte campus, where a new physician’s assistant program is planned to open in 2027.

A year ago, Charlotte not only lacked a full-time law school but was also the largest city in the U.S. without a four-year medical program. Wake Forest University opened Charlotte’s first four-year medical school in 2025. By the end of 2027, the city will have a full-time law school, too.

“Charlotte needs it. It’s an unbelievably fast-growing city. It’s a dynamic city, and law students make a place better,” Kramer said. “They invest in the community. They’re civically active. They tend to build and stay and grow lives.”

This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 12:02 PM.

Rebecca Noel

The Charlotte Observer

Rebecca Noel reports on education for The Charlotte Observer. She’s a native of Houston, Texas, and graduated from Rice University. She later received a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. When she’s not reporting, she enjoys reading, running and frequenting coffee shops around Charlotte.