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Welcome Message from the President
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Baptism of a Law School
The approval of the state board of law examiners would be critical to the viability of Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Their determination that we were “reputable and qualified” within the meaning of the Michigan statute would enable our graduates to take the Michigan bar examination.
If we could achieve that objective, our long term goal of becoming accredited by the American Bar Association would begin to appear on the horizon. There were a smattering of local law schools in America which had been sanctioned by local authority, and whose graduates were entitled to take the bar examination in their home states. Most notably, the Nashville Night YMCA Law School and the John Marshall School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia were operating successfully without ABA approval.
We had no intention of being a purely Michigan law school. Still, the ability to survive as a local institution would give us time to grow and satisfy all of the requirements of ABA accreditation.
Despite the rhetoric used by the American Bar Association proclaiming that its purpose was the improvement of legal education in America, there has always been the underlying motivation on the part of many members of the bar to limit entry into the profession. The battle cry of “too many lawyers” is not the sole property of lawyer-hating legislators and insurance companies. Lawyers themselves complain about oversupply. In that respect they exhibit the same guild mentality that infects many trade unions. Very few people welcome increased competition. The ABA’s accreditation process reflects that bias. They make it hard to start a law school and difficult to survive if you do.
On the morning after our board meeting at Walnut Hills Country Club in early 1973, I met Stan Beattie for breakfast at the Jack Tar Hotel. Stanley Beattie was a graduate of the University of Detroit and of the Harvard Law School. He practiced law alone. An adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Law School, where he taught me Agency and Partnership, Beattie had instructed many prominent members of the bar. He was an expert in election law, often retained by the Republican Party to represent candidates involved in recounts. From the beginning, Beattie encouraged me in the law school venture. It was he who suggested the name of Justice Thomas Cooley. He spoke at our inaugural class session. Now, as he sat across the breakfast table, he took pen in hand and signed his name at the foot of a resolution I had prepared. The resolution proclaimed that Thomas M. Cooley Law School was found by the Michigan Board of Law Examiners to be a reputable and qualified law school within the meaning of the Michigan statute. It specified that graduates of Cooley were eligible to take the Michigan bar examination. Below Stanley Beattie’s signature were four more signature lines, bearing the typewritten names of the other four members of the board of law examiners.
J. Leonard Hyman was a partner in a small Oakland County law firm. He had been on the board of law examiners for several years. Leonard was a long time friend of mine. He had helped me in my election campaigns for circuit judge in Wayne County and for the Michigan Supreme Court. I had spoken to him about Cooley and I was confident of his support.
Richard Spindle was a recent appointee to the board. He was a young lawyer from Grand Rapids. When I was chief justice, the chairman of the young lawyers section of the state bar suggested that a representative of the young lawyers should be considered for appointment to the board of examiners. I thought the idea had merit and invited him to nominate someone. When Dick Spindle’s name was advanced, I lobbied the court for his appointment. I felt he would look favorably on Cooley.
Stuart Dunnings Jr., a well known and highly regarded African American lawyer from Lansing was the first of his race to serve on the board of law examiners. He was also appointed on my watch. Stuart served on the State Board of Education’s committee of scholars which had recommended against issuance of the Cooley corporate charter. He filed a dissent from that recommendation. He looked like another ‘yes’ vote.
The big question mark was Doug Roche. A member of the prestige, silk stocking Detroit law firm of Dickinson, Wright et al, Doug’s father had been chairman of the board of directors of General Motors Corporation. I did not know him well. Everything in his background, however, suggested that he would have a negative view of a start up law school, unaffiliated with a university. There is a pecking order in the legal profession, much as there is in society at large. Prestige law firms have prestige clients. They hire graduates of prestige law schools. Appearance matters. Image matters. Doug Roche came from that side of the tracks.
Doug Roche joined Stan Beattie and me for breakfast. I showed him the resolution and asked him to sign. He was hesitant. Stan Beattie talked. He told Doug that he believed in the school, and that he believed in me. He said that he signed the resolution because he thought it was the right thing to do. He told Doug that future generations would be grateful to them if they helped Cooley to survive. Doug Roche signed the resolution.
Within 24 hours we had all five signatures. Cooley was baptized.
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This Page was last updated on:
08/19/2004