Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Now THIS is News! Husson University in Maine DROPS Law School Program!

I didn't even understand this article when I first read it.  At first, I thought it was Bangalore, India.  Then I was very confused when the article implied that the ABA didn't accredit a school.  Next, I expected to read about flying pigs in hell having a snow fight with pink elephants.

Apparently, the Supreme Court of Maine is NOT going to allow Husson Law Grads to sit for the bar. Woah, Nelly!  That is news!  I would be interested in reading their decision. I'm wondering if they considered the over population of attorneys in this country.  Anyone have any insight?

Bangor school drops plans to offer law degrees: The decision follows a state supreme court ruling that Husson law graduates couldn't take the bar exam.
By Emma Bouthillette ebouthillette@pressherald.com
News Asssistant


Husson University's trustees announced Monday that they are suspending further efforts to offer law degrees at the university in Bangor.

Their decision followed the Maine Supreme Judicial Court's ruling March 4 that Husson's graduates would not be allowed to take the state's bar exam.

"We are grateful to the Supreme Judicial Court for their careful review of our petition," university President Robert Clark said in a press release Monday.

The school requested the court's assistance in September, asking the court to devise its own review system for evaluating Husson University, as an alternative to the American Bar Association standards.

The court said it was willing to consider an existing alternative review process but could not create one. Without the law school fully operating and a review in progress, the court said it could not allow Husson students to take the bar exam.

The release said the school will continue to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in criminal justice and undergraduate degrees in paralegal studies through the School of Business.
Planning for the law school began five years ago. It would have been the second law school in the state, after the University of Maine School of Law in Portland. Its main objective would have been providing legal education to people in northern and eastern Maine.

"The need exists to educate lawyers in the underserved areas of Maine," said Peter Murray, founder of Murray Plumb & Murray, in an article in the Maine Sunday Telegram on March 14.

After learning about the suspended efforts Monday, Murray declined to comment on the trustees' decision. "We could have had a great law school there," he said.

Murray, who has served for the past 15 years as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, had intended to teach part time at Husson's law school.

6 comments:

  1. Good news. We need one less piece of excrement floating around, anyway. Now, if only we could do the same for the bottom 100-150 law schools...

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  2. I used to live down the road from Bangor, in Waterville, and even I haven't ever heard of "Husson University." Also, although that part of Maine is underserved in many ways (read "Empire Falls," which was set in a town that is a combination of Waterville and Skowhegan), a lack of lawyers really isn't that much of a problem up there. Who do you think bought every overpriced summer "cottage" in Bar Harbor?

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  3. http://www.courts.state.me.us/court_info/opinions/2010%20documents/10me16hu.pdf

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  4. How can you be a visiting professor for 15 years? I also wonder how much they were planning to charge students to attend Husson.

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  5. Okay.. a quick read of the decision says that Husson hasn't even applied for ABA accreditation. Didn't they get the memo? The ABA is bought through bribery (fees) and it's not hard to get accredited. They must really suck if they think the ABA won't rubber stamp their law school. The court didn't consider the actual need, or lack thereof, of attorneys in the area.
    Whatever... happy to see one less trap open in the States.

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  6. I'm not sure it's a victory for our movement, but a tiny scintilla of good news feels good.

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