Welcome
Message from
President and Dean Don LeDuc
Welcome to the Thomas M. Cooley Web site.
Cooley was established to provide an opportunity to those who share the dream of becoming a lawyer. Our stated mission is to provide access to the legal profession, particularly to those who traditionally have been denied the opportunity to study law.
Choosing a law school is a daunting task, particularly with so much misinformation, subjectivity, and bias confronting the potential law student. As you navigate the site, I hope you will look at the three essential attributes of every successful law school—high quality people, an excellent legal education program, and first-class facilities. These attributes, not media rankings and reputations built in former times, are what should guide law school selection.
The people of Cooley are its greatest asset.
With the largest enrollment of minority law students in the United States, Cooley is among the nation’s most diverse institutions. Our students come from every state in the Union, we lead all law schools in foreign national students, and our graduates are found in every state and in numerous foreign countries.
Nearly all our faculty members are former practicing lawyers and judges, and all our faculty members consider teaching and helping our students become competent lawyers their highest priority. They are accessible to students and supportive of student activities. As a result, Cooley students rate our faculty very highly, awarding them a median score of 8.91 on a scale of 10 in the most recent semester.
Cooley has a large, experienced staff devoted to supporting the educational program and our students, including an academic support program second to none, a Dean of Career and Professional Development who is the incoming President of the State Bar of Michigan, and a unique department of Enrollment and Student Services.
Our program is a model of modern legal education theory and practice.
Cooley stresses legal knowledge, practice skills, and professional ethics, an approach that is the latest trend in legal education and new to most law schools, but has been in place at Cooley since its founding 35 years ago.
We set our standards high at Cooley. We expect all our graduates to pass the bar examination and to be competent, ethical practicing attorneys, so our program of legal education is rigorous, challenging, and thorough. We require our students to meet a standard of academic competence and professional conduct while at Cooley that is comparable to the standards of the legal profession. And we stress personal and professional growth, including a commitment to serving the community and providing pro bono legal services.
Our curriculum includes scheduling options that offer an opportunity for students with varying needs to find a way to attend law school. You may choose from full-time or part-time programs; weekday, evening, or Saturday and Sunday classes; and from two, three, four, or five-year programs. No school offers a greater variety of scheduling options than Cooley. And we offer those options at all three of our campuses.
After two years of classes stressing the fundamentals of law taught from the practitioner’s perspective, our students can concentrate their last year of studies in particular areas of the law. Every student has the opportunity for a clinical internship or externship placement. Coupled with simulation courses and advanced research and writing projects, Cooley graduates can honestly tell their prospective employers that they are ready to hit the ground running.
Cooley’s facilities are unmatched in size, scope, functionality, and beauty.
We have specialized in rehabilitating old buildings, having restored vacant buildings at all three campuses, including three in Lansing (with another underway). With appellate and trial courtrooms at all three campuses, with high-tech classrooms throughout, and with one of America’s largest law libraries, all of which are strikingly beautiful, Cooley provides an excellent setting in which our students can study, our faculty can teach, and our staff can work.
As you explore our Web site, I think you'll discover why Cooley became the largest law school in the nation, one of the best at practice preparation, one of the most affordable, perhaps the most innovative, and financially strong, as our Strategic Plan called for. And you will see why we are so proud of our 13,500 graduates worldwide. Please feel free to contact one of our Admissions representatives or me to help you make your decision about attending Cooley Law School.
Sincerely,
Don LeDuc
President and Dean
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