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Welcome Message from the President
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Going to the Movies
Jack Nicklaus is fond of saying that before you hit a golf shot, you have to go to the movies. By that he means that you have to envision the shot lofting through the air, landing on the green, bouncing once or twice, and then coming to rest near the hole. First you see it in your mind's eye, then you do it.
The summer of 1971 was a time for those of us involved in the creation of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School to go to the movies. We had first to envision what it was that we wanted to do before we could set about doing it. We had to dream the dream before there could be a reality.
The process of dreaming took the form of documents prepared for the Committee of Scholars appointed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction to review our request for a corporate charter.
The first thing the committee decided was that no new law school should be started unless and until it was approved by the American Bar Association. In the minds of the law school professors and deans who made up the committee, ABA approval was the sine qua non of legitimacy.
I didn't take too kindly to that decision. Our Michigan statutes placed the responsibility for approval of law schools and legal education squarely in the hands of the State Board of Law Examiners. That made sense to me. The law examiners are a public body, appointed on recommendation of the Supreme Court. They are the ones who conduct the Law Examination, commonly known as the Bar Exam.
The American Bar Association, for all of its pomp and prestige, is nonetheless a private organization. Membership is voluntary, and only a little more than half of the lawyers in the United States belong to the association. Historically, the American Bar Association was an elitist organization. Its members generally came from the big law firms in the big cities. The ABA looked down its nose at night law schools. African Americans were barred from the ABA as late as 1948. Indeed, Dennis Archer, the current ABA president, is the first of his race to hold that office.
I corresponded with Millard Ruud, then the ABA's legal education consultant. He made it clear that the American Bar Association never approves a law school in formation. First you have to start the law school, then you ask the ABA to come and look at it, and if they are satisfied, they grant you their approval. I thought it was a rather circuitous approach, designed to discourage the creation of law schools. The regional accrediting agencies, which accredit colleges and universities generally, have what is called Candidate Status, by which they grant preliminary approval to new educational institutions. Not so with the lawyers.
So first I had to convince the committee that they couldn't insist on ABA approval before a charter was issued. They conceded the point, then insisted that unless we intended to meet all ABA standards, they would not recommend issuance of the charter.
Now my original idea was to buy an old house in downtown Lansing, put my personal library in it, enroll a couple of dozen students, enlist a few of my judicial colleagues as part time teachers, and pretty much do what former Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Leland Carr did for so many years; teach law to willing students. I was very familiar with Judge Carr's program. My secretary, Mary Lou Shepperd, and one of my colleagues, Michael O'Hara, had both come to the bar via Judge Carr's training. And they were good lawyers.
But the committee of scholars made it clear that the one room schoolhouse concept was not acceptable. Well, I guess that ruling got my Irish up. O.K. If you want an ABA approved school, that is what we will do. I called Millard Ruud again, and got the book on ABA standards. Six full time professors. A full time dean. A library consisting of hundreds of designated titles. The requirements went on and on.
And so did our prospectus. Every ABA standard had to be addressed. Yes, we would have six full time professors. Yes, we would have a full time dean. Yes, we would acquire a suitable library, and blackboards, and classrooms, and whatever else the ABA specified.
And so the dream grew. Still the committee wasn't satisfied. They wanted a feasibility study. Would anybody come to a start up school unaffiliated with a university?
About that time, Michigan State University was thinking about starting a law school of its own. A study committee recommended it. Headlines blared about the prospect. In the meantime, Bill Kulsea, a reporter for the Booth Newspapers, wrote a short article which was headed, "Justice Brennan to Start Law School." Within weeks, I had over three hundred letters from men and women who wanted to go to law school. I sent them all a form letter saying that if and when we got a charter, I would send them an application.
So much for feasibility.
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This Page was last updated on:
08/19/2004