Cooley Law School returns to compliance with ABA accreditation standard
Western Michigan University’s Thomas M. Cooley Law School is back in compliance with an ABA accreditation standard, according to a memo from the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar released Friday.
Earlier this year, the council found the law school out of compliance with Standard 316, which requires a bar passage rate of at least 75% within a two-year time period, according to the August notice. At that time, the law school reported to the ABA that 57.47% of 2022 graduate students had passed the bar after two years.
Schools found to fall below that the standard can dispute the data. Schools have two years to demonstrate that they have returned to compliance, and they can receive an extension of the two-year period by demonstrating good cause, according to 2019 guidance.
“I am pleased to report that 76.2% of Cooley’s 2024 graduates who have taken a bar examination within two years of graduating have passed,” said James McGrath, the law school’s president and dean in a Nov. 21 press release.
“The council concluded that the information provided by the law school is sufficient to demonstrate compliance with Standard 316,” according to last week’s memo.
The law school, with campuses in Tampa, Florida, and Lansing, Michigan, had 420 law students enrolled in fall 2024, according to its most recent Standard 509 Information Report to the council.
A separate and independent entity from the ABA, the council is recognized by the Department of Education as the sole accrediting body for U.S. law schools.
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