American Justice School of Law - Kentucky

The American Justice School of Law, a for-profit law school in Paducah, Kentucky, was reportedly sold last week, according an article by Charles Huckabee in the Chronicle of Higher Education and another article in The Courier-Journal, a Louisville Kentucky newspaper.

The sale is apparently to settle a lawsuit brought last November by 30 students who are angry that the law school failed to tell them that the school was not going to accredited the ABA until it was too late for them to transfer to other schools. The students reportedly sought $120 million in damages and an accounting of the law school's finances. As an editorial in the Courier-Journal notes, the ABA did not give reasons for denying accreditation (or at least the law school did not share any of those reasons with the students).

The website for the American Justice School of Law includes this disclaimer:

"At American Justice School of Law, the Dean is fully informed as to the Standards and Rules of Procedure for the Approval of Law Schools by the American Bar Association. The Administration and the Dean are determined to devote all necessary resources and in other respects to take all necessary steps to present a program of legal education that will qualify for approval by the American Bar Association. The Law School makes no representation to any applicant that it will be approved by the American Bar Association prior to the graduation of any matriculating student. State Licensing by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education should not be confused with accreditation which is granted by the ABA. Absent of ABA Approval, a graduate may not sit for any bar examination."

Private, for-profit educational institutions will continue to present interesting issues for law school administrators and faculty. Do any of our readers here have further insights on what happened at the American Justice School of Law?

Mark E. Wojcik, The John Marshall Law School-Chicago