Legal Practice Guide 7: Education Law Compliance 101 and the Thomas Cooley Machine

You might think the first lesson of compliance practice is... well, I don't know what you think, but it should be celebration.  Because let's face it - if you do all the work - all that legislative interpretation and proofing and hobnobbing at your boss's doorway so he knows you're still there when the clock hits 7:00 pm - you deserve a celebration.

Well, celebrate, Tommy Cool.

Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School has come into compliance with an admissions standard that requires accredited schools to only admit candidates who appear capable of finishing law school and gaining admission to a state bar, according to public notice recently posted by the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Woo to tha hoo, WMUTMCLS!  Of course, there's a wet blanket or two ready to douse the burning fire of orgasmic compliance.

David Frakt, a Florida lawyer and frequent critic of the accreditation process, raised questions about what Cooley Law has done to reach compliance with Standard 501, saying it’s possible that as part of a settlement agreement, details about Cooley’s “concrete steps” were not included in the recent accreditation committee finding.

And you, too, might wonder about those "concrete steps" in order to actually learn how to assist educational institutions if you happen to find yourself helping correspondence schools act chill when los federales come 'round.

To that, unfortunately, I can offer no sage practice tips other than to do as Tom Cooley does.  If you're the second greatest law school in the country and you work hard at doing whatever it was they did and you file enough up-yours lawsuits, by gum, eventually you're going to be in compliance.