LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Thomas M. Cooley Law School’s graduates are failing the bar exam in large numbers, so the American Bar Association (ABA) has placed the school on probation.

The ABA placed the Lansing school on probation for not meeting exam passage requirements. The ABA requires at least 75% of a school’s graduates who take the bar exam to pass within two years of graduation.

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According to an article from “Above the Law, “Passing the bar exam is the ultimate rite of passage for would-be attorneys, but for [Cooley], bar exam passage rates continue to serve as an albatross, and the American Bar Association has finally decided to do something about it.”

The article went on: “It seems that Cooley has been out of compliance since 2020, and the ABA found that the school failed to take appropriate action. In its probation notice, the ABA notes that Cooley’s noncompliance is ‘sufficiently serious that it raises concerns about the quality of the student learning experience provided by the Law School.’”

Cooley Law School President and Dean James McGrath made a statement to the media, saying he was surprised at the ABA’s action. “We testified that over 75% of Cooley’s 2024 graduates who have taken a bar examination had passed. (The Council, however, did not agree that Cooley is currently in compliance with Standard 316 because results are not yet known for a small number of 2024 graduates who did not take a bar examination before July 2025. We also testified that 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.”

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