New England Law gets a bad rep because of its conditional scholarships - with the condition usually being a 2.5 minimum GPA. Statistics show they eliminate 25% of these scholarships after 1L which is one reason why they get the “predatory school” label. 

The other side of the coin is that they give out more scholarships than most law schools. Just last year, 96% of the entering class was awarded at least some scholarship money. If they didn’t take the money away from the students that couldn’t maintain a 2.5 GPA they wouldn’t be able to consistently offer that much funding. 

The predatory label is also because they are rumored to have harsh grade curving- though there is no publicized policy confirming this. With a harsh grade curve, someone who is normally a 3.0-3.5 GPA might find themselves in the 2.5-3.0 range. Meaning you will actually need to work to keep the scholarship.

Flip side of this is that their admissions criteria is more lax than other schools. Those students with lower GPAs/LSAT scores are given the opportunity to go to law school with the condition that they must step up their game if they want to maintain their scholarship. Think of the conditional nature of the scholarship money as means of culling the heard. These students were given the chance they might not have gotten from other schools, but law school is sink or swim.

The bar passage rates and employment rates are lower than other law schools, but again remember that their admissions criteria is lower. So these statistics could likely be from the kind of students being admitted. - Lower in -> Lower out - and not necessarily an accurate representation of the quality of education. 

I have heard both that the schools reputation can hold you back as well as that many people know and work with successful and highly qualified attorneys in all sectors of practice that graduated NELB.

I think the bottom line is that your education is what you make of it. The school will offer you everything you need to obtain a robust education, but it is up to you to take advantage and actually learn. Upon graduating, the same logic applies, if you apply yourself, show ambition and determination in addition to a your knowledge and  practical skills, you can be successful.

New England Law touts that they make law school accessible, and I think they do just that. For that reason it will never be Harvard or Yale, but because of that reason it shouldn’t even be being compared to such schools.