Empire College School of Law eyeing merger with Monterey College of Law
Jeff Quackenbush
May 9, 2022
Empire College, the 62-year-old private Sonoma County institution that moved to shed its business school two years ago amid declining enrollment, is closing in on a planned merger with another private law school on the Central Coast.
Empire College is firming up a merger agreement with Monterey College of Law, officials from the two institutions said. The deal, expected to be finalized within a month, would make the Santa Rosa institution’s School of Law the third satellite campus and boost the Santa Cruz-based college’s enrollment by nearly one-third.
Since the closure of Empire College’s business school, the for-profit college has been dedicated exclusively to students pursuing law degrees.
“We believe that combining our talents and resources would be an appropriate merger for the two of us, as long as we can maintain the identity of the Empire College School of Law, maintain all of the professors that we currently have, maintain the administrative staff that we currently have, and ensure that our students, in effect, a see a seamless transition to towards their end goal, which is the Juris Doctor program,” said Roy Hurd, president of Empire College.
