Nashville School of Law’s ‘Tenacious Students’ Lure Supreme Court Justice As Dean

To understand the Nashville School of Law, think night classes.

For more than a century, the school has given “working men and women” a chance to study and become attorneys. The current class of 445 includes police officers, doctors, homemakers, and even a two-time Grammy winner.

William Koch is no stranger, having taught there for 17 years. But before he accepted a position as dean of the school — which becomes official in a ceremony on Saturday — he also had plenty of other options.

Koch was in line to be the next chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, and he had taught at the law schools at Vanderbilt and Belmont universities.

But Koch, who said he felt sheltered while in law school just after his undergraduate studies, said the night school’s “tenacious” students — anything but sheltered — made the difference.

“The richness of the discussions in the class with our students is enhanced because they actually have some experience,” Koch said. “You know, they’ve lived a life. They’ve confronted problems, they’ve had to make payrolls, raise kids, juggle their time.”

Koch takes pride in the school’s pay-as-you go model, which bucks the trend of graduating young lawyers deep in debt.

But as an unaccredited school, he knows there’s much to prove. The bar exam passage rate there hovers between 65 and 70 percent, well below the state average.

“I’m not satisfied with that. We need to get it higher,” he said, noting “that passage rate, though, if you compare it to the passage rate of other non-accredited schools in the country, our passage rate is in the top quartile.”

He tells law firms that his best students come out practice-ready and able to handle cases.

“Part of my job is going to be to break open some of those doors and give our students the chance to show what they can do,” Koch said.

He points to grads working in 93 Tennessee counties — some as judges, district attorneys, public defenders and lawmakers. Among the 3,500 graduates are two U.S. senators.

Koch is bringing that group together in a first-ever alumni association — but he said he’s putting no pressure on the students, whose time he values, to come to his investiture on Saturday.

The ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday at the campus at 4013 Armory Oaks Drive, with keynote speaker Chief Justice Sharon G. Lee.