President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, attended what has been called “the worst law school in the country.” Is that a hyperbolic comment on his legal skills, or does it have a basis in fact?
Why is Michael Cohen’s law school the country’s worst?
Michael Cohen attended the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, class of 1991. And yes, “American Lawyer” says that Cooley is “often cited as one of the worst law schools in the nation.”
Politico unpacks the reasons why: “The school accepts almost anyone who can pay the $51,000 annual tuition bill—more than 85 percent of its applicants were admitted last year. Fewer than half of its graduates manage to pass a bar exam on their first try; among all law school graduates in the country, about 75 percent pass on their first attempt.” Last year, the school had to sue the American Bar Association to preserve its accreditation; it had not met basic admission standards “for a time,” Politico said. Also in 2017, “The National Advisory Council for Law School Transparency gave Cooley a ranking no school wants: It was No. 1 on the group’s list of “the 10 least selective law schools in the country.”
Publicity around Michael Cohen and his role in the botched Stormy Daniels hush payment is not burnishing the school’s reputation. In early April, Cohen’s home, office and safe-deposit box were raided by the FBI, “the first search of its kind targeting a president’s personal lawyer in modern American history,” says the New Republic. Cohen has been called Trump’s “fixer” more than an actual lawyer. “Esquire” compiled a list of “Michael Cohen’s dumbest behavior,” which stretches to eight items with updates.
The Cooley Law School pleads for mercy. “In light of the current publicity about Mr. Michael Cohen, one of our graduates, it is disappointing to see all the gratuitous negative comments about our law school from people who know nothing about us,” said the school’s general counsel, James Robb, in a statement to Politico. “What I am seeing is incivility and bullying by people who truly know little about legal education — and especially about our fine law school.”
