Cooley Law Fails to Meet ABA’s Bar Exam Pass Standard

Cooley Law Fails to Meet ABA’s Bar Exam Pass Standard

Western Michigan University’s Thomas M. Cooley Law School is failing to meet the 75% bar passage rate required by the American Bar Association (ABA), but ABA gave the school an extension to come into compliance.

According to ABA, Cooley Law School was not in compliance with Standard 316 for its 2017 graduating class, with respect to the requirement that at least 75 percent of a law school’s graduates in a calendar year who sat for a bar examination must have passed a bar examination administered within two years of their date of graduation. Pursuant to Rule 13(b), the Law School had two years from the date of the Council’s finding of non-compliance to demonstrate compliance with Standard 316.

Last month, Cooley Law School appeared at the Council meeting and presented evidence concerning its compliance with Standard 316 and its request for a good cause extension of time to come into compliance with the Standard. After reviewing the evidence submitted by the Law School, the Council concluded that the Law School remained out of compliance with Standard 316.

The Council granted the Law School’s request for an extension but it comes with various conditions, including working with faculty to improve teaching and learning, reviewing the effects of more rigorous grading policies, and making a “significant financial investment” in a “reliable plan” to ensure that the law school has resources to operate in compliance with the standards. The Law School must also adhere to revised admissions policy that, beginning with the fall 2020 entering class, has resulted in entering classes with stronger predictors of success in graduating and passing a bar examination.

 

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