Cooley Law Plans To Shutter Ann Arbor Campus

In yet another sign of the pressures facing law schools, Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School—which is among the largest in the country by number of students—is shutting down its campus in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The move follows the announcement this summer that Cooley planned to halt first-year enrollment at Ann Arbor, the smallest of its five campuses. The school also said it would cut faculty and staff as part of a financial management plan intended to slash expenses and “right size the organization.”

According to a statement on Cooley’s web site, students have been notified of the planned shutdown, which is subject to the approval of “teach-out plans” submitted to its accrediting agencies, the Higher Learning Commission and American Bar Association:

Starting January 2015, the affected Ann Arbor students may choose to take their classes at any of the Law School’s other campuses, including Lansing or Auburn Hills located about an hour away from Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids located about two hours away, or at its Tampa Bay, Florida campus. Travel to other campuses has historically been common amongst students, with more than 60 percent of Ann Arbor-based graduates over the last three years taking classes at more than one campus. The Law School has always admitted students to the school as a whole and not to a particular campus.

Announcement of the intent to cease operations at Ann Arbor awaited the required formal notice recently given by the school to its accrediting agencies, which must review the arrangement. The school and the accreditors will ensure that the affected students are provided the full range and quality of curriculum, instruction, and student services as all other students receive.

Students at Ann Arbor have been offered various accommodations, including early registration at other campuses, a $1,500 cash stipend to cover the costs of traveling to classes at a different campus and a $3,500 stipend for a bar review course for graduates.

Cooley is an independent, not-for-profit law school that recently entered into a formal affiliation with Western Michigan University. The two institutions have a number of joint programs, but the partnership does not entail an exchange of funds or financial support.

Like a number of stand-alone law schools, Cooley has been hard-hit by plunging enrollment as students shy away from legal careers amid a challenging job market. Last year its first-year enrollment dropped by 35% in 2013, to 582 students—among the steepest declines of the 200 or so ABA-approved law schools.

A Cooley spokesman did not return a request for comment.