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Thomas M. Cooley Law School

Cooley Law Back In ABA Compliance

The University of Western Michigan’s Thomas Cooley Law School is in compliance again with ABA Standards.
Cooley Law was previously placed on ABA probation for violating Standard 501 B, which mandates that law schools “shall not admit an applicant who does not appear capable of satisfactorily completing its program of legal education and being admitted to the bar.”
The American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the bar confirmed, through a public notice, that Cooley Law was now in compliance with Standard 501(b).

Cooley Law’s Fight with the ABA
The ABA Journal reports that Cooley Law had filed a temporary restraining order on the ABA to prevent the association from publically releasing its decision to place the law school on probation. The motion was rejected in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. A lawsuit Cooley filed against the ABA, alleging that posting the letter violated the Higher Education Act and common-law due process, is currently pending.
LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs have been strikingly low among Cooley law students. The National Jurist reports that from 2014 to 2017, Cooley Law’s median LSAT score has been below 146, while median undergraduate GPAs were between 2.85 and 2.94.
“The ABA law school accreditation process includes opportunities for schools to address matters of noncompliance determined by the accreditation committee and the council,” Barry Currier, the ABA’s managing director of accreditation and legal education, tells the ABA Journal. “When that occurs, and the committee or the council conclude that the steps taken by a school have addressed the concerns that led to the finding of noncompliance, then the appropriate action is to find that the school has returned to good standing on those issues.”
Sources: ABA, ABA Journal, The National Jurist