Appalachian School of Law, Roanoke College explore merger

A Dec. 12, 2025, emergency meeting of the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors raised one agenda item: “Consider the issue of the relocation of the Appalachian School of Law.”

Buchanan County Board of Supervisors Chairman Craig Stiltner said during the meeting that it had been called because “Roanoke College has shown an interest in the Appalachian School of Law.” But in order for the school to relocate from Grundy to Roanoke College’s Salem campus, the county board of supervisors and industrial development authority would need to grant approval.

The board didn’t approve the move at the emergency meeting, instead voting to table the issue and appointing Stiltner and Supervisor Trey Adkins to a committee to examine how the issue could be resolved and report back to the other board members. Stiltner and Adkins did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

The emergency meeting called into question the future of Virginia’s smallest law school, which Appalachian School of Law President and Dean David Western told the board has 184 current students — short of the 300 he said the school needs to be “fully sustainable.” The law school also employs approximately 47 people.

In a statement to Virginia Lawyers Weekly, Roanoke College spokesperson Alicia Petska confirmed the college “has been involved in confidential conversations with the Appalachian School of Law. … We believe in their mission, and although there are many details to consider, we remain eager about what could be possible together. At this time, no formal agreement has been met.”

Financial strain

Appalachian School of Law traces its history to the early 1990s, when attorney Joseph E. Wolfe proposed establishing a law school in Southwest Virginia.

In 1996, Buchanan County entered into a compact with ASL, granting the school its main academic and library building and grounds, along with funds for operating costs and building renovations. The school opened for its first semester in August 1997, with 71 students and nine faculty members.

After nearly three decades, however, the school now faces financial troubles, according to its president and dean. Western, who did not respond to requests for comment, told the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors that the school had a $1.8 million deficit last year and is facing a current deficit of $500,000.

According to Western’s Dec. 12 comments before the board, ASL needs $2.4 million to stay open until August 2026 and $6 million to $10 million to stay compliant with American Bar Association standards.

And, even if ASL had 300 students, it would not have enough housing for all of them, Western said in his comments to the board, adding that lack of housing “is one of the biggest complaints from new students,” leading some to consider other law schools.

“We saw the iceberg coming, and if we don’t do something, we’re going to lose the ship,” Western told the supervisors. “I’m giving my heart and soul for ASL, and we need a plan for the law school.”

Compared with most law schools nationally, Appalachian School of Law sits in a unique position. Unlike other law schools in Virginia, which are part of four-year universities, ASL lacks a natural feeder school. And according to data from legal education website LawHub, ASL’s enrollment for the 2024-25 academic year was the second lowest among U.S. law schools.

A merger with Roanoke College would provide ASL the opportunity to be a part of a four-year institution — but Western told the board that the law school could not remain in Buchanan County if the merger went through.

Roanoke College President Frank Shushok Jr. confirmed with Virginia Lawyers Weekly that the college and ASL are holding discussions.

“We have had conversations with the Appalachian School of Law about our admiration for the mission of the Appalachian School of Law, and … those conversations are ongoing,” Shushok said.

If the merger between Roanoke College and ASL doesn’t come to fruition, Shushok doesn’t believe the college would be interested in starting its own law school.

“I think the thing that is most compelling about Appalachian School of Law is its mission, and Roanoke College really believes in the mission of Appalachian School of Law, particularly its emphasis on addressing legal deserts in this part of Virginia, in Appalachia [and] in Southwest Virginia — that is compelling to us,” Shushok said. “And it is for that reason that we have entered [into] dialogue with ASL.”

Shushok added that it is a “strategic objective” of Roanoke College to support the region, and that ASL “is a really important entity and one that serves this region well.”

Attorneys signal support

John P. Fishwick Jr., owner of Fishwick & Associates in Roanoke, has been involved with the Roanoke-area legal community for many years, including serving with the Roanoke Bar Association Board of Directors and in judicial selection for the Western District of Virginia.

He told Virginia Lawyers Weekly he thinks the merger would benefit the region.

“I believe the combination of Roanoke College and Appalachian School of Law will strengthen both institutions and create legal job opportunities for students and support economic growth for Southwest Virginia,” Fishwick said.

Fishwick was one of 10 attorneys from the Roanoke Valley who penned a joint letter advocating for the merger that was published Jan. 12 by Cardinal News. The other signing attorneys were Gentry Locke Chair Monica Monday; Frith Anderson + Peake partner Phillip Anderson; Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley Executive Director Mona Raza; Dan Frankl of Harman Claytor Corrigan; William Hopkins Jr. with Martin, Hopkins and Lemon; private practice attorney Paul Beers; Lugar Injury Law owner Cerid Lugar; and longtime trial attorneys John Lichtenstein and Terry Grimes.

In the letter, the 10 attorneys wrote that they “wholly support the proposal to combine Appalachian School of Law and Roanoke College.”

The school faces “mounting financial, demographic and structural pressures” as an independent law school, spelling a need for a “sustainable future for legal education in Southwest Virginia,” the attorneys wrote in the open letter.

The 10 attorneys believe the potential merger with Roanoke College would guarantee that future.

“[W]e do not view this as merely a merger of educational institutions,” the attorneys wrote. “Rather, it will be a strategic investment in the future of our region.”

Pointing to Roanoke’s stability and infrastructure and ASL’s regional impact, the attorneys wrote that the institutions are positioned to “establish a law school that is not only academically strong but uniquely positioned to address the legal needs of Appalachia and beyond.”

Citing potential growth in career opportunities, CLE programs and economic growth, the attorneys wrote that the Roanoke Valley legal community “stands ready to support this endeavor.”

“We undersigned members of the Roanoke Valley bar stand ready to mentor, to collaborate, to advocate and to help build a law school that reflects the best of who we are and the best of what Southwest Virginia can be,” the attorneys wrote.

Raza with the Legal Aid Society of the Roanoke Valley said that she signed on to the open letter because of the importance of ensuring ASL’s viability.

“I have worked with several graduates of ASL,” she said. “I have been proud to call them my colleagues in service to low-income Virginians in dire need of legal services, often in communities that have access to no other lawyers. The EGAD [Entry, Growth and Distribution of Virginia Attorneys Study] Committee of the Virginia State Bar has highlighted Virginia’s low retention rates of its own law school graduates and the lack of access to justice in Virginia’s rural communities. We just can’t afford to lose a law school.”

Virginia Business Deputy Editor Kate Andrews contributed to this story.