LOCAL

Judge denies Cooley's request to quash ABA letter saying it admits unqualified students

RJ Wolcott
Lansing State Journal
The Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School pictured on Thursday, March 30, 2017.

LANSING - A federal judge rejected Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School’s request to suppress a letter from the American Bar Association on Tuesday.

The topic of the letter? The ABA's belief that Cooley is admitting students who aren't capable of becoming lawyers.

In his order, United States District Judge Arthur Tarnow wrote the college failed to justify its request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the accrediting body.

“Cooley may continue to litigate its claim that the ABA acted illegally in publishing the Letter; but, granting a TRO that would remove accurate information from the public sphere is wholly inappropriate at this juncture in the proceedings,” the judge wrote.

“Furthermore," he added, "it is in the best interests of Cooley’s students to be made aware of its non-compliance with Standard 501(b). As future applicants to the bar, students should have access to reliable information to enable them to make informed decisions on where to attend law school.”

Related:

The American Bar Association said Cooley admits unqualified students. Cooley sued.

Where did all the Cooley students go?

The letter, dated Nov. 13, said an ABA committee found Cooley was in violation of Standard 501 (b), which says a law school “shall not admit an applicant who does not appear capable of satisfactorily completing its program of legal education and being admitted to the bar.”

While disappointed with the judge's decision, James Robb, associate dean of external affairs and general counsel, said Cooley plans to continue in its lawsuit against the accrediting organization. 

"Our dispute with the ABA is that it has never defined 'appeared capable,'” Robb said. "It is a vague, ambiguous term the ABA refuses to define for any law school."

Academic and admission test credentials, the academic attrition rate of a law school's students, bar passage rate of graduates and the effectiveness of its academic support program are among the factors considered when evaluating compliance, according to the ABA's standards.  The accrediting body has said in previous years that Cooley's bar passage and attrition rates and admissions formula meet its standards, Robb said.

Among the 181 Cooley students who took the Michigan Bar Exam in February, 71, or 39%, passed. Statewide, the percentage was 49%. Among Michigan law schools, only the University of Detroit Mercy fared worse. 

Robb said the law school stands by its contentions that the ABA illegally published the letter and that it has no basis to continue to defer Cooley's request to offer 60 credits on the campus of Western Michigan University. The college presently offers 15 credits toward a law degree in Kalamazoo.

Cooley, which has campuses in Lansing, Auburn Hills, Grand Rapids and Riverview, Florida, near Tampa, was directed in the letter to provide evidence that it was in compliance with the standard in question by Feb. 1, 2018. If Cooley doesn't demonstrate compliance, officials will go before an ABA committee in June to determine whether to impose sanctions.

Robb said the college plans on submitting the requested information.

Cooley filed its lawsuit against the ABA on Nov. 14. In its request, Cooley’s lawyers argued the accrediting body didn’t have legal authority to publish the letter and that doing so when many potential students are choosing law schools, “poses an unreasonably high risk of immediate and irreparable harm to Cooley going forward.”

The former Masonic Temple on south Capitol Avenue, which is for sale from the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School, pictured on Thursday, March 30, 2017.

The ABA countered that it was required to publish the letter under U.S. Department of Education regulations

"The Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is pleased with the decision of the Court in denying the TRO,” an ABA spokesman said in a statement. “Given that litigation is pending, we have no further comment.”

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr.