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Welcome Message from the President
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An Exchange of Letters
The University of Michigan Law School
Office of the Dean
June 22, 1973
Honorable Thomas E. Brennan
Supreme Court of Michigan
Dear Tom:
I am writing this letter reluctantly, because I do not like to risk offending someone whom, even on short acquaintance, I have become as fond of as you (among other engaging qualities, you have a refreshing lack of pretense that I find rather rare in important public figures!). But I feel I owe you an explanation for my failure to attend the recent fund raising dinner for your Cooley Law School. Quite simply, I have opposed this school: I shall continue to oppose it as long as I think there is any chance of rescinding the board of education’s ill-considered approval of it; and I would have felt hypocritical in accepting your hospitality while feeling as I do.
I can sympathize with your notion that qualified young people should not be denied the opportunity to go to law school for want of enough facilities. Indeed, several colleagues and I have gone on record as favoring the establishment of a new law school at Michigan State, and we have directly assisted in MSU’s efforts to get one started. At the same time, I do not think we should exaggerate the nation’s need for lawyers. Existing American law schools are now pouring out thirty-five thousand graduates a year to add to the present total of three hundred and fifty thousand attorneys; at this rate, we shall double the size of the bar in another dozen years or so. This makes it quite understandable, in my view, that many leaders of the bar have become worried that lawyers might wind up flooding the market. In any event, I think the major problem confronting the bar is the need for more quality, not more quantity.
From all that I can tell, your proposed school received an entirely fair evaluation from the advisory committee of scholars, which concluded unanimously that it was not fit to open. Everything that I have seen or read convinces me that the school is inadequately staffed, inadequately housed, inadequately financed, and inadequately stocked with library materials. The school falls far short in vital respects of meeting the standards of the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools. This is not the way, in my judgment, to meet the needs of the people of the State of Michigan for quality legal education.
Even at this late date, it is my earnest hope that this operation will not attempt to continue as a law school under present conditions. Might I suggest that one possible alternative might be to transform it into what could well be a highly useful center for paralegal training? If you would like to discuss this matter further, I should be happy to get together with you at your convenience.
Sincerely,
Theodore J. St. Antoine
Here was my reply:
Dear Ted:
I appreciate your candor in writing me concerning your views about the Cooley Law School. Much of what you say is based upon lack of information. The enclosed brochure is intended for your information.
Some of your observations are, of course, well taken. We would prefer to have more staff, larger quarters, more money in the bank. But we have advanced remarkably well in a very short time, and have every intention to continue our progress.
Ted, I am committed to this project. I do not share your pessimism about the future of our profession. More importantly, I have a transcendent faith in our young people; in their determination and their ability.
Whether or not MSU gets a law school — now or later — Cooley will succeed and thrive. The fact that you have not chosen to help us, as you have helped MSU is, of course, a source of some dismay. After all, we are all supposed to be aiming toward the same goal — the legal education of future generations.
But your negative attitude will not deter us. Indeed it demonstrates the more that legal education in America has become the private preserve of a limited few, and reinforces our view that unless Cooley Law School and others like it provide legal education to a broader segment of society, the bar will in time become an elitist cadre, unwilling and unable to serve the generality of our people.
I will save your letter, Ted. Being fundamentally a decent sort of fellow, you will, I am sure, welcome the opportunity to eat your words. Hopefully, they will be the more palatable when taken with pate` de foie gras at some future Cooley Founders Banquet.
Sincerely,
Thomas E. Brennan
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This Page was last updated on:
08/19/2004