American Bar Association committee recommends accreditation for UMass School of Law
Two years after the University of Massachusetts won state approval for a public law school that critics warned was destined for failure, the college reported Wednesday that it had made a significant step toward receiving accreditation from the American Bar Association.
The Bar’s Accreditation Committee recommended that the law school, which is part of the UMass Dartmouth campus, be granted provisional approval by the ABA, Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack wrote in a message to the college community.
MacCormack told students, faculty, and staff that the committee’s approval “illustrates how we are growing in size and impact.’’
The Council on Legal Education will meet June 8 in Boston to decide on the committee’s recommendation, the chancellor said. Approval from the council would be the final step in the school’s campaign for ABA accreditation, said John Hoey, a UMass Dartmouth spokesman.
When the university’s plan to acquire the Southern New England School of Law was unveiled in 2009, it quickly became the subject of controversy. The Southern New England School of Law was a small private institution that planned to donate its assets to the state.
MacCormack had described plans that said the new public law school would operate without taxpayer dollars and would eventually funnel money back into UMass Dartmouth and the state through increased enrollment.
Critics – including such competitors such as the Suffolk, New England, and Western New England law schools – lobbied against the new school, saying it could not operate only on tuition funds and would rack up costs for the state.
The school now has more than 300 students, Hoey said, and it has stuck to its financial plan. He said UMass has returned approximately $1.3 million to the state from the law school.
The committee’s approval, Hoey said, is an important endorsement as the university tries to establish itself as a public option for law education.
“It’s another step in the process, it’s a positive step and we’re looking forward to the next step,’’ he said.
Accreditation ensures that graduates from ABA-approved schools can sit for the Bar exam in any state. According to the UMass website, students currently can sit for examinations in Massachusetts and Connecticut immediately after graduation.
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