Law Schools

Struggling Law School Will Officially Lose Accreditation

At last, the ABA pounded the final nail into the Thomas Jefferson School of Law's coffin.

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Ever since the American Bar Association began cracking down on law schools that seemed to be playing it fast and loose with accreditation standards, it was only a matter of time before the organization dealt out the ultimate punishment to a deserving law school — and now, that time has come for yet another poorly performing school. Back in late May, the ABA informed the Thomas Jefferson School of Law that it intended to strip the school of its accreditation. The school appealed the decision and has been impatiently waiting to discover its ultimate fate.

We now have news that an appellate panel affirmed the ABA’s decision to revoke Thomas Jefferson’s accreditation. This will now officially be the second time that the ABA has revoked accreditation from a fully accredited law school. From the decision:

There is no further appeal or review of the Council’s decision within the accreditation process. …

The Panel’s decision reinstates the Council’s prior decision to withdraw approval. That removal is effective on December 17, 2019, the day following the end of the fall semester’s final exam period.

Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s numerous weaknesses and failures have been documented in these pages for years. From its dubious admissions practices to its repeated bar-exam embarrassments to its depressing (and allegedly deceptive) employment statistics, this institution has been maligned in the press for good reason. These days, the school is lucky if more than 25 percent of its graduates are able to pass the exam (which tracks with its unemployment and underemployment rates).

Thomas Jefferson released a statement on the matter, noting:

The law school is disappointed by the appeals panel’s decision, and is focused on ensuring that its current students will graduate pursuant to an ABA-approved teach-out plan. … The ABA Council has approved recent teach-outs allowing law schools to remain ABA-accredited in order to grant degrees to current students. While the approval process is pending, the law school will proceed with plans for the Spring 2020 semester as scheduled.

Normally, Thomas Jefferson would be unable to enroll additional students because of the ABA’s decision to withdraw its approval of the school, but if you recall, last fall, afraid it would lose ABA accreditation, TJSL applied for and was later granted California accreditation. Going forward, the school must create a teach-out plan to ensure that students will be able to complete their degrees and take the bar exam.

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While this is the death knell for Thomas Jefferson School of Law as an ABA-accredited institution, the school will survive to educate students who hope to take the California bar exam and remain in the state to practice law. Ironically, the law school’s bar pass rates are just about as poor the overall bar pass rates for California-accreditated law schools — about 26 percent for the July 2019 administration of the exam.

Perhaps this was meant to be, but it’s incredibly unfortunate for all of the students and graduates who laid down hundreds of thousands of debt-financed dollars to obtain a degree from the school. For now, this chapter of TJSL’s existence is over.

(Flip to the next page to see the ABA’s accreditation decision.)

NOTICE TO AFFIRM THE COUNCIL DECISION TO WITHDRAW APPROVAL THOMAS JEFFERSON SCHOOL OF LAW [ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar]
It’s Official: Thomas Jefferson Law School Will Lose Its National Accreditation [Voice of San Diego]

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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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