Thomas M. Cooley Law School

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Thomas M. Cooley Law School
Established: 1972
Type: Private
Staff: 95 full-time faculty, over 100 adjunct faculty
Students: 3,252 (2006)[1]
Location: Lansing, Michigan, United States
Campus: Urban
Website: http://www.cooley.edu

Thomas M. Cooley Law School, located in Lansing, Michigan, is the largest law school as measured by full-time and part-time student enrollment in the United States. Cooley is a private school unaffiliated with any university.

Contents

[edit] History

Named to honor the contribution and memory of Thomas M. Cooley, a nineteenth-century jurist and Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court who was prominent both within and outside of Michigan, the law school was established in 1972 by former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan.

[edit] American Bar Association Approval

The law school was provisionally approved in 1975, gaining full approval in 1978 by the American Bar Association. In July 2006 the American Bar Association granted Cooley's request to offer full J.D. programs at each of its branch campuses, making it the only law school in the country to offer full J.D. programs at three distinct campuses.

[edit] Degree programs

Although most students are working toward a Juris Doctor (J.D.), Cooley also confers a Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) in Tax or Intellectual Property and cooperates in offering a joint degree J.D./Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) program as well as a J.D./Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.). Cooley operates programs allowing ABA-approved foreign study credit in Toronto, Australia, and New Zealand. In addition, students can select from several approved "concentrations" or areas of specialized legal study, such as General Practice, Litigation, Business Transactions, and Public and International Law, within which there are 4 sub-concentrations: Administrative Law, Constitutional Law and Civil Rights, Environmental Law, and International Law.

To earn the Doctor of Jurisprudence or Juris Doctorate degree (also called the "J.D."), students must complete 90 credit hours at the law school. To graduate, students must take 21 required courses that comprise 63 of the 90 required credit hours for graduation. Required courses include traditional first-year courses such as Torts, Contracts, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Property, and Research & Writing. Students also must complete required courses in Taxation, Secured Transactions, Evidence, Business Organizations, Advanced Research & Writing, and other courses. Additionally, students must complete a 3- to 10-credit unpaid externship in a legal office under the supervision of an experienced attorney.

[edit] Branch Campuses

Cooley has branch campuses in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Auburn Hills, Michigan. When law schools across the country are reporting flat on enrollment numbers, these branch campuses are one source of Cooley's growth. [2]

[edit] Clinical programs

The law school offers clinical programs such as the Cooley Innocence Project, one of several Innocence Projects that are nationally recognized in the U.S. for helping free those wrongfully incarcerated. Such programs are provided to innocent, incarcerated persons in obtaining DNA evidence and legal advocacy to overturn wrongful convictions. Cooley also offers an elder law clinic, Sixty Plus, Inc., which provides free legal services to area senior citizens.

[edit] Nontraditional students

Cooley was the first ABA-approved law school in the nation to have an officially recognized weekend program allowing students to earn a law degree by attending class on Saturdays and Sundays only. The law school is currently one of the few accredited law schools in the U.S. that does not require applicants to hold a bachelor's degree as a prerequisite to admission. The law school has developed a formula and methodology for those wanting to apply without a bachelor’s degree.[3]

[edit] "In corde hominem est anima legis"

The law school's Latin motto was written during the 1970s by former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan with the help of his pastor. Judge Brennan originally described the meaning as "The spirit of the law is in the heart of Man." When women in a newly formed female organization called the Cooley Action Team brought to his attention that the motto should also refer to "the hearts of women," Justice Brennan responded that based on his Latin experience from high school, the Latin word for men and humankind were identical.[4] Judge Brennan's formulation of the motto remains in place today.

[edit] Notable current and former faculty

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Rankings and reputation

  • "Tier 4" (between 140th and 184th) in the U.S. News Law School rankings. [7]
  • Recently selected the 2006 winner of the E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award as selected by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Professionalism, for Cooley's program "Creating a Culture of Professionalism in Law School: The Thomas M. Cooley Law School Experience."[8]
  • By Princeton Review as 6th for having "Most Competitive Students". [9]
  • By Inside Higher Ed as 5th for having "Six-Figure Average Salaries for Associate Professors." [10]
  • By State University as 43rd for having "Highest FT Faculty Salaries." [11]
  • By State University as 1st for "Most Popular Schools for Law." [12]
  • By Google "Law School" Search Rankings as 83rd. [13]

[edit] Statistics

  • President: Don LeDuc
  • Accredited to the American Bar Association
  • Accredited to the Higher Learning Commission
  • Accredited to the Michigan Department of Education
  • Accredited to the Michigan Board of Law Examiners
  • Motto: In corde hominem est anima legis ("The spirit of the law is in the heart of Man")
  • Alumni: over 11,000
  • Acceptance rate: 60.8%[14]
  • Median accepted student GPA: 3.01[15]
  • Median accepted student LSAT: 149[16]
  • Student-to-faculty ratio: 23.6 to 1
  • Attrition rate: 1st Year - 23.1%; 2nd Year - 11.4%[17]
  • Employment placement rate: 82% (2006) [18]
  • Number of states in which graduates are employed: 51 (including the District of Columbia)
  • Michigan bar exam passage rate: 74% [19]
  • 64% of the law school's student body are from outside Michigan
  • Average starting salary: $52,000 (2006) [20]
  • Tuition: $25,950, full time; $15,570, part time
  • Percentage of students receiving grants: 55.8%
  • 2004-2005 enrollment: 475, full time; 2,393, part time
  • Enrollment by gender: Men: 59%, full time, 50%, part time; Women: 41%, full time, 50% part time
  • The average indebtedness of graduates who incurred law school debt is estimated at $75,700

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cooley Law School 2006 Enrollment
  2. ^ Rapid Growth: Law school attracts hundreds of out-of-state students to Grand Rapids
  3. ^ Admissions: Applying Without a Bachelor’s Degree - Thomas M. Cooley Law School
  4. ^ Overview: Thomas E. Brennan, Founder, Thomas M. Cooley Law School 1972
  5. ^ [1][dead link]
  6. ^ Faculty: - Thomas M. Cooley Law School
  7. ^ USNews.com: America's Best Graduate Schools 2008: Thomas M. Cooley Law School (Law): At a glance
  8. ^ E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Awards - Center for Professional Responsibility
  9. ^ Princeston Review: Thomas M. Cooley
  10. ^ Inside Higher Ed: Real Pay Increases for Professors
  11. ^ stateuniversity.com/universities/MI/Thomas_M_Cooley_Law_School.html
  12. ^ stateuniversity.com/program/Law-LL.html
  13. ^ TaxProf Blog: Google search for "law school"
  14. ^ [2]
  15. ^ [3]
  16. ^ [4]
  17. ^ [5]
  18. ^ http://www.cooley.edu/careersvcs/erss_report_2006.pdf
  19. ^ [www.law.wayne.edu/news/news/110607_1.html][6]
  20. ^ http://www.cooley.edu/careersvcs/erss_report_2006.pdf

Enrollment by gender: Full-time students: 60% men, 40% women; Part-time students: 51% men, 49% women

[edit] External links