LANSING, Mich. – Cooley Law School has been placed on probation by the American Bar Association.
“Cooley has recently had a hearing with the ABA Council on Legal Education regarding our non-compliance with Standard 316 which requires that at least 75 percent of a law school’s graduates in a calendar year who sat for a bar examination must have passed a bar examination administered within two years of their date of graduation,” the school posted on its website. “We asked for an extension of time to return to compliance. Instead of an extension of time, they placed us on probation, which effectively extended our time to return to compliance until February 2026.”
The page says that over 75% of Cooley’s graduates who graduated in 2024 and took the Bar have passed, but the Council on Legal Education doesn’t view the school as currently in compliance because results are unknown for some graduates who didn’t take the exam before July 2025.
“While we cannot predict the future, Cooley is confident that when the nationwide results of the July 2025 bar examination are known, Cooley will be able to definitively prove compliance with Standard 316,” the website says.
The probation became effective on Sept. 19, 2025.
Students at Cooley Law School are still eligible for federal student financial aid and graduates are eligible to sit for the bar exam.
The accreditation will be reviewed by the Council in February. Cooley Law School remains accredited.