Section 17.03 - Site Evaluation of Tennessee-Approved Law Schools(a) A site evaluation by the Board shall be conducted before approval of any law school in Tennessee.(b) For a Tennessee-Approved Law School, a site evaluation by the Board shall be conducted in the third year following the granting of approval and every seventh year thereafter. The Board may order additional site evaluations of a school when special circumstances warrant.(c) The Board shall arrange for the site evaluation or inspection of the law school by a team of qualified and objective persons who have no conflicts of interest as defined in section 17.10 of this Rule. The cost of the site evaluation or inspection, including the fees of any consultants engaged as part of the Board's site evaluation team, shall be paid by the law school.(d) Before the site evaluation, the law school shall furnish to the Board and members of the site evaluation team: (1) For a law school seeking provisional accreditation from the ABA or approval of a substantial change as provided in section 17.01(b), the completed application submitted to the ABA;(2) the current self-study undertaken by the dean and faculty; and(3) any complaints that the law school is not in compliance with the standards in section 17.02(a)(1).(e) The Board shall schedule the site evaluation of the law school to take place during the academic year at a time when regular academic classes are being conducted. A site evaluation usually requires several days, as classes are visited, faculty quality assessed, admissions policies reviewed, records inspected, physical facilities examined, the library assessed, information reviewed, and consultations held with the chairperson of the board of directors of the law school, officers of the institution, the dean of the law school, members of the law school faculty, professional staff, law students, and members of the legal community. In the case of a law school seeking approval, such visit shall be scheduled within three months after receipt by the Board of an application for approval.(f) Following a site evaluation, the team shall promptly prepare a written report based upon the site evaluation. The team shall not determine compliance or noncompliance with the standards, but shall report facts and observations that will enable the Board and the Supreme Court to determine compliance. The report of the team should give as much pertinent information as feasible.(g) The team shall promptly submit its report to the Board. After reviewing the report, the Board shall transmit the report to the chairperson of the board of directors of the law school and the dean of the law school in order to provide an opportunity to make factual corrections and comments. In the letter transmitting the report, the Board shall advise that any response to the report must be received by a specified date at least thirty days from the date the Board mailed the report to the school, unless the school consents to a shorter time period.(h) Following receipt of the school's response to the site evaluation report, the Board shall forward a copy of the report with the school's response to members of the Board and the site evaluation team.(i) The Board may not consider any additional information submitted by the school after the school's response to the report has been received by the Board, unless (1) the information is received in writing by the Board at least fifteen days before the Board meeting at which the report is scheduled to be considered, or(2) for good cause shown, the president of the Board authorizes consideration of the additional information that was not received in a timely manner.(j) Upon the completion of the procedures, the Board shall consider the law school's evaluation and determine whether the school is in compliance with the standards and is effectively achieving its mission and objectives.(k) A request for postponement of a site evaluation will be granted only if the law school is in the process of moving to a new physical facility or if extraordinary circumstances exist which would make it impossible for the scheduled site evaluation to take place. The postponement shall not exceed one year.Adopted by Order filed and effective 3/29/2019; amended by Order filed and effective 4/26/2019; and as amended by order filed and effective 10/31/2023.