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Hail Holy Queen Law School: Ave Maria in Compliance With ABA Standards

Ave Maria School of Law Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgTimes have been tumultuous for Ave Maria Law School. There’s been a fair amount of infighting, which has led to a lot of faculty attrition.

But today brings happy news for the embattled institution. From Acting Dean Eugene Milhizer, via Fumare:

From: Eugene R. Milhizer
Sent: Wed 7/2/2008 12:01 PM
To: All Law System Distribution; All Alumni
Subject: Resolution of ABA Complaint

Dear Law School Community,

I am writing to pass on some very good news from the American Bar Association. As you may know, some time ago several members of the Ave Maria Law School faculty filed a complaint with the Accreditation Committee of the ABA. That complaint triggered a proceeding to determine the school’s compliance with Standard 405(a), which provides that “[a] law school shall establish and maintain conditions adequate to attract and retain a competent faculty.” On Monday I received notification that this proceeding has been terminated. The Committee concluded that the school is in compliance with Standard 405(a) and informed us that we remain on the list of law schools approved by the ABA.

You can read the rest of the email over here (PDF).

Ave Maria isn’t out of the woods just yet; it’s still in the process of obtaining the ABA’s “acquiescence” to the school’s plan to relocate to Florida. But the termination of the Standard 405(a) proceeding is still undoubtedly good news for the school. Congratulations to AMLS on the ABA’s favorable ruling.

Resolution of ABA Complaint (PDF) [Ave Maria School of Law]
Milhizer Email Re: ABA Complaint Resolved, AMSL in Compliance with ABA Standards [Fumare]

Comments

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1 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 4:42 PM

TTT!!! if this is what excites them!

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2 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 4:43 PM

Monica Goodling to being a real lawyer!!!

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3 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 4:55 PM

NO SPELLCHECK FOR YOU?

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4 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 5:11 PM

Just demolish the whole school along with its other TTT counterparts. Bring some respect back to the profession by making it actually an achievement to get into a law school.

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5 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 5:14 PM

Considering some schools that the ABA considers in compliance, the bar is pretty low. One only needs to look at the multitudes outside the US News Top 100 to see that standards are liberally construed.

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6 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 5:16 PM

Just look at Whittier's past bar rates for an example

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7 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 5:25 PM


Congrats, Ave Maria. My only beef is that you and Regent (and George Mason) concentrate Christians and right-wingers, leaving my law school that much more full of godless communists. But way to go on staying accredited.

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8 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 5:41 PM

All of the other law school Deans send out letters like this, right? HLS Dean circulates the annual, "Whoosh, big relief, guys - we are still accredited!"

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9 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 5:44 PM

5:25, don't forget Jerry Falwell's TTT Liberty (provisionally accredited)...

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10 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 6:15 PM

amen.

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11 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 6:16 PM

4:43 - Monica Goodling went to Regent Law (Protestant), not Ave Maria (Catholic).

Ave Maria is associated with people like Bob Bork, the former D.C. Circuit judge and Solicitor General, who taught at Yale. Regent is not as distinguished.

In legal education, Catholics > Protestants.

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12 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 6:50 PM

In finding a job, Catholic TTT = Protestant TTT.

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13 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 6:54 PM

6:50 - someone has to be GC of domino's!

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14 Posted by guest | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 8:46 PM

Ave Maria didn't really belong in the fourth tier until the the Florida business and the firing of professors (congrats Tulane, be sure to sign up for Admin Law / Fed Courts) pushed away the top 25% of the incoming students. But I can't imagine how the ABA could come to this conclusion now.

15 Posted by Wade_Hampton | Permalink Wednesday, July 2, 2008 11:23 PM

Someday the ABA is going to run roughshod over some liberal bastion of hope...what then ATL??

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16 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 12:19 AM

Ave Maria a "bastion of hope" - you're a comic genius Wade. You should have your own website. You could call it Wade Blogs, co-host it with Margo Adams, and sell indulgences/pizza packages on the side. Six months off time in purgatory with every deep-dish, double-cheese purchase.

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17 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 12:20 AM

"Ave Maria, gee it's great to see ya."

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18 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 2:31 AM

6:16: Don't forget Scalia... he helped create Ave Maria's curriculum, and I believe C.Thomas has lectured there.

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19 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 9:25 AM

As a member of the ABA, I'm ashamed our standards have dropped so low. With the crappy attorneys coming from Regent, we don't need another diploma mill like Ave Maria feeding conservatives incompetent "pur God back into the law" types fouling up our profession. And this is not religious bigotry, I'm a former Catholic.

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20 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 9:52 AM

Dear Law Students,

Good news! Your Ave Maria law degree is now worth (slightly) more than the paper it's written on. Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.

Yours in Christ,

The Noid

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21 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 9:53 AM

"And this is not religious bigotry, I'm a __former__ Catholic."

lol, typical ABA logic.

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22 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 10:06 AM

"And this is not religious bigotry, I'm a __former__ Catholic."

If anything, this cuts the other way...

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23 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 10:21 AM

You left out some important facts that can mislead readers, so I will set the record straight:

1. Last year, the ABA dismissed all but one of the many complaints the dissident faculty made to the ABA;

2. The ABA NEVER concluded that Ave Maria violated any ABA standards; and

3. This week’s news of the ABA’s determination that the school is in compliance with all standards vindicates the school administration and deals a heavy blow to the dissident faculty.

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24 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 10:22 AM

You left out some important facts that can mislead readers, so I will set the record straight:

1. Last year, the ABA dismissed all but one of the many complaints the dissident faculty made to the ABA;

2. The ABA NEVER concluded that Ave Maria violated any ABA standards; and

3. This week’s news of the ABA’s determination that the school is in compliance with all standards vindicates the school administration and deals a heavy blow to the dissident faculty.

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25 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 10:22 AM

You left out some important facts that can mislead readers, so I will set the record straight:

1. Last year, the ABA dismissed all but one of the many complaints the dissident faculty made to the ABA;

2. The ABA NEVER concluded that Ave Maria violated any ABA standards; and

3. This week’s news of the ABA’s determination that the school is in compliance with all standards vindicates the school administration and deals a heavy blow to the dissident faculty.

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26 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 10:23 AM

sorry - no intent to post 3 times

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27 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 10:24 AM

sorry - no intent to post 3 times

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28 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 10:30 AM

10:22

The ABA is not terribly selective over which schools they choose to accredit. The ABA determination that Ave Maria is in compliance with their "standards" is not really saying much at all.

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29 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 10:51 AM

It is correct, David, that the school must still receive aquiescence for the move, but this resolution totally paves the way for that. Advantage: AMLS. Hello, Naples.

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30 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 11:32 AM

TEAM DOBRANSKI !!!!!!!!!

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31 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 11:33 AM

I suppose you could say it 'vindicates the administration,' but extremely incompetent administration caused the original problem, so any feelings of 'vindication' should be very minimal. As someone who had high hopes for Ave Maria, the whole situation has been a disgrace.

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32 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 12:00 PM

Those sounds you hear in the distance are actually exploding heads of the self-righteous band of folks in Ann Arbor who thought they would bring the whole school down because they didn’t get their way. Thank you, ABA.

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33 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 12:05 PM

How do you get an Ave Maria grad off your porch? Tip him for the pizza.

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34 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 3:07 PM

Only a complete moron would go to Ave.

-Boko Fittleworth, Ave '05

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35 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 3:16 PM

I cannot understand how AMSL could remain accredited after Dobranski continued to serve over the objection of a majority of the faculty. Unless the ABA conditioned accreditation on Dobranski's ouster. He resigned (well, "resigned") in, what, February?

If that's the case, it's still disappointing that the ABA is apparently ready to act as though the problems at AMSL are gone. They're not. But at least Dobranski no longer plagues the building.

Orsi's ridiculous emails about Dobranski's health make me think it's even more likely that Dobranski did not step down for health reasons. Even with a bum ankle you can sit around making up career-destroying lies about your faculty members.


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36 Posted by guest | Permalink Thursday, July 3, 2008 4:34 PM

You also left out the fact that half the class at Ave tries to transfer out year after year after year.

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37 Posted by guest | Permalink Friday, July 4, 2008 1:03 AM

First off this investigation was never about the academic quality of the law school and Ave Maria has never been a diploma mill. The quality of education there is just as good as any other law school and in fact better than some. So you elitists should seriously look into the law school before making any other statements that you can't back up. Ave Maria is only 8 years old after all and it takes some time to build a reputation, but to summarily dismiss the efforts and abilities of students that go to Ave Maria is absurd. Talk to a representative sample at least before doing that. Yes the school does have a conservative bent, but the only issues it is really ideological about are abortion and to a lesser extent gay marriage. You can easily find a decent number of liberals and democrats attending it. Yes the administration has been more interested in self-destruction than building a law school of late, but if you actually investigated the law school you'll find that it is no diploma mill.

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38 Posted by guest | Permalink Friday, July 4, 2008 3:11 AM

That's b/c no one actually bothers to do any real research anymore, and the blogs have empowered Joe Peanut with his plaid Simpsons boxers and case of wine coolers to be able to speak like his opinion is worthy of 5 seconds. Before the crisis Ave was a very good 4T, and it's a shame that this conundrum has struck it (although most of the damage is self inflicted). But as always, law revolves around the good ole boys, but in the end it's neither here nor there, now is it?

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39 Posted by guest | Permalink Friday, July 4, 2008 11:54 AM

Ave/Regent/GMU/Liberty:

Don't pray in my law school and I won't think in your church.

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40 Posted by guest | Permalink Friday, July 4, 2008 1:07 PM

lol, that was the stupidest comment I've ever read. You go to law school?

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41 Posted by guest | Permalink Friday, July 4, 2008 1:12 PM

11:54- I agree, screw Catholics. Not like they helped spread Western culture, the idea of learning, or the idea of the university. Really, they've done nothing, and their antiquated views need to be thrown out. I mean imagine the world without them...Germanic languages, no schools, and barely any moral ethic! Sounds awesome to me!

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42 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, August 25, 2008 6:29 PM

All this means, is my class just got f'ed. Our JD degree isn't going to mean jack crap when we graduate. Holding the bag for somebody else *sigh*, should of transferred.

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43 Posted by guest | Permalink Monday, January 26, 2009 6:03 PM

Whoever thought that getting into law school is an accomplishment is an idiot. An accomplishment is surviving law school, passing the bar, swearing in, and surviving your first problem client without doing anything to lose your law license.

Seriously, every law school in this country has substantially the exact same curriculum and follows the exact same method of teaching law. How is one so much better than another? The elitists in this profession need to get over themselves.

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