They can now attend first-term classes at Oakland University
Cooley Law School students
get a break
They can now attend first-term classes at Oakland University
ROCHESTER -- The drive to class will be much shorter
for beginning Cooley Law School students, who can now take first-term courses at
Oakland University.
Starting this fall, first-year law students will be able to
take the same courses at Oakland University as their peers do in Lansing, the
home of Cooley Law School.
Cooley President Don LeDuc said when the Detroit College of
Law -- which was founded in 1891 in Detroit -- moved from Detroit to the campus
of Michigan State University in 1995, it left a big hole for law students in
southeast Michigan.
"We went down there and took a look," LeDuc said.
"This is important because it gives access to legal education in the third
largest county (without a law school) in the nation. That's the biggest thing
here. It's going to where the market is."
Classes such as Criminal Law, Torts I, Property I, Contracts I
and Constitutional Law I will be taught by Cooley's regular full-time faculty.
Introduction to law, a noncredit course, will be offered, too.
The arrangement between Cooley and Oakland University allows
law students from southeast Michigan to get a term of classes under their belts
before making the commitment to drive to Lansing each week, said Ann Miller,
assistant dean of planning and programs at Cooley Law School.
Oakland University, off Interstate 75 just east of Auburn
Hills, has just under 16,000 students enrolled in its undergraduate and graduate
programs. Cooley's enrollment was around 1,800 last fall.
Cooley is known internationally for its practical legal
education, Miller said. All students must complete an internship where they work
in a legal setting for a term while earning credit toward graduation.
Students taking Cooley classes at Oakland University will be
eligible for the same scholarships and have access to the same services as their
counterparts in Lansing, Miller said.
American Bar Association Standards allow Cooley and Oakland
universities to offer only first-term classes. Students continuing under
Cooley's law degree program will need to attend law school in Lansing for their
second term and beyond.
Cooley is exploring adding second-term courses at Oakland
University, but it must secure the approval of its accreditors first, LeDuc
said.
