After three years of service as the Dean of Regent University Law School in Virginia, former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin is coming home. High Point University announced today that the Chief will serve as the founding dean of its new law school, which could open as early as 2024.

Our State currently has 6 accredited law schools, down from 7 after Charlotte School of Law closed shop in 2017. And here’s something that might surprise you: North Carolina is among the 10 states with the fewest lawyers per capita, with “only” 2.3 lawyers per 1,000 people. Yet, it remains one of the fastest growing states, with annual population expansion of over 1% (or 112,000 people). We need to turn 258 of those new residents into lawyers, and quick, if we are just to keep pace. (Fine, we don’t need to turn newborns into attorneys quite yet.)

All that to say, I’m confident the bar will welcome HPU’s new law school to the scene, especially with it helmed by our returning former Chief Justice.

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