Arizona Summit Law School - Phoenix, Arizona

Deitra Greene

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!

Elizabeth Johnson

Phoenix School of Law has been a challenge far beyond what I thought I would. I am impressed by my professors and the other students I attend class with. It is amazing how available the professors make themselves to the students and how willing they are to work with us to make sure we are practice ready when we graduate.

The Center for Professional Development has been amazing also. They have worked with me to make sure my resume is competitive, my cover letters are good and I am interview ready. When I graduate I firmly believe I will be prepared to pass the Bar and be able to get a job!

Desiree Kerfoot Petersen

This school had a great reputation when it was PSL, but as Arizona Summit it has slowly been driven into the ground. The concept of combining bar tested courses is horrible. They will not allow outside bar companies to advertise on campus so you are stuck with their "myBar" program, which is clearly not working based upon the abysmal passage rate and the administration is slow to respond to your inquiries. The building is beautiful and hi tech, however the quality of education does not live up to what is purported in the brochures. When you speak to lawyers in Phoenix and surrounding cities they usually have nothing good to day about ASLS. In fact many places are reluctant to hire Summit grads. Save your future and go to a better school.

Mark Caruso

The most technologically advanced law school that I have ever visited. It's on the top floors of one of the largest and newest hi-rise buildings in Phoenix. If you want a traditional college campus feel with 18 to 22 year old undergraduates all around, don't chose Arizona Summit. But if you want the feel of a professional office building with dozens of law firms and courts within a block or so, then Arizona Summit should be your choice.

My first impression with the school was that I felt like I was in a large law firm with partners (professors) directing and teaching associates (students) rather than in a law school. Perhaps an "apprenticeship education" would be a good explanation of how I felt during my many visits to the law school. The professors offer real training to the students, much different than my legal education in the early 1980's. My daughter tells me that the professors are almost always available for their students.

My daughter is attending Summit, and I am an attorney with 32 years experience. We visited about 14 law schools before chosing Arizona Summit. The law school may not have the long-term reputation of an ivy league school, but the Ariozona Summit teaches the nuts and bolts to be able to pass the bar and practice law. It's got a great bar passage rate. (See their statistics.) That's what I'm looking for when I hire new associates for our law firm in Albuquerque.

I have reviewed hundreds of resumes and interviewed just as many potential associates over the years, but what is usually lacking is hands-on practical experience. I don't want to hire a "book-smart" law school graduate. Instead, I want to hire a law school graduate with practical experience. That's the training and education that is offered by Arizona Summit.

Yes, Arizona Summit Law School is expensive (as are most private law schools including Pepperdine University where I went to law school) but Arizona Summit offers relatively large scholarships and other opportunities to work during law school.

You owe it to yourself to at least visit Arizona Summit Law School and talk to their admissions staff before you make your final decision where to attend law school.

James 022880

I started law school at Phoenix School of Law and left right before the name change. I really liked that they had a night program for full-time workers. What I didn't like, is that it is so incredibly expensive. I only went here a year before I transferred to ASU. ASU is so much cheaper. I can't imagine all the debt students racked up going here for 3 years. It's incredible. Also, they bar passage rates for this school are horrific.

Jonathon Nohtanoj

Nice building, but beware of this program. This a for profit institution managed by a group named Infilaw from out of state. Tuition is over 40K/year and the bar pass rate as of the most recent year was around 30%. The worst in Arizona by a significant margin, and I believe the worst in the entire US. It prays on those who don't know any better. From this school you will receive the largest average debt load, around 290K, and then a 1/3 shot at passing the bar, after paying students 10k who were likely to fail, and then a 1/5 shot at landing a law job, do you like your chances? Retake the LSAT and go to one of the State schools, you'll thank me later. The two state schools in Arizona are very competitive nationally and place much much better instate. Some Summit students will come out alive and land decent jobs, but they are the exception.

On a positive note, the facilities are great and the location is great. I think when ASU moves across the street Summit will struggle a little bit more.

James Nachbar

As I write this, I am about halfway through evening law school at AZ Summit, having previously gone through medical school. The simple fact is that Summit has everything you need to successfully learn the law, pass the bar, and become an effective attorney.

Those who compare bar passage rates are missing the point -- the same student, putting in the same work at Summit, ASU, or elsewhere, has the same chance of passing the bar. The difference is that ASU is more restrictive in whom they admit, and students who would never even be given a chance at ASU are able to thrive and succeed at Summit.

Students finishing in the top quarter of their class at Summit have a bar passage rate exceeding 90%. Both of the top two bar exam scores on the most recent Arizona bar exam (Feb 2016) were Summit graduates.

Indeed, even ASU seems to agree that Summit is a great school to learn the law: according to ASU’s website ("ABA Required Disclosures"), ASU took 47 Summit students in transfer last year. Since those students ultimately decided to transfer to ASU, presumably many would have started at ASU had they been given the opportunity, but could not qualify for admission. After a year at Summit, they now meet ASU’s standards.

Summit’s evening program is solid and mature — ASU tried to start an evening program in Fall 2016, but could not generate interest in their five year program in the face of tough competition from Summit, now just four blocks away. Summit’s evening program will take me less than three years to complete, and Summit has a very generous merit-based scholarship program.

A good student will have more opportunity to shine at Summit than the same student at a more restrictive school. Students sometimes worry about a school’s reputation, but do you know where your Doctor went to medical school? Of course not!

The bottom line: although ASU’s admissions are much more restrictive, and therefore their graduates have a higher bar pass rate, Summit is a great place to learn the law. And if you’re a Doctor who always wanted to go to law school, take the LSAT and apply for Summit’s evening program!

Don Burns

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.