By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law
On January 16, 2019, the Summit School of Law in Arizona (Arizona Summit) settled a lawsuit against the American Bar Association (ABA) over the decision to pull the law school’s accreditation. The for-profit law school, which is in the process of closing down, agreed to dismiss the suit with prejudice.
This matter may be of interest to those involved in medical education, because of the accreditation problems faced by some medical schools and recent actions taken to revoke the accreditation of or not accept the graduate from some foreign medical schools. There are lessons to be learned from this case.
“The ABA and the council welcome the end of this dispute. We look forward to continuing to serve the best interests of law students, the public, and the profession through the ABA law school accreditation process, which has consistently been upheld by courts and has been approved by the U.S. Department of Education,” Barry Currier, managing director of the ABA section that accredits and regulates law schools, said in a statement the ABA issued.
ABA Enforcement Actions.
Arizona Summit is one of three schools that filed suit against ABA’s enforcement actions, arguing that due process rights were violated before the decision to be put on probation. All three law schools, owned by InfiLaw Corp., sued the ABA in May 2018, regarding accreditation issues. Click here to view Arizona Summit’s compliant against the ABA in full.
Requirements For Law School Accreditation.
In June 2018, ABA decided to pull accreditation for Arizona Summit, saying it had fallen short of standards on student admissions and bar passage rates. ABA requires schools to see at least 75% of students pass the bar within five years. Additionally, passage rates for first-time bar takers are required to be within 15% of the school’s average in three of five years. You can learn more about ABA’s Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools here.
According to Arizona Summit’s Report for 2018, the school awarded 118 degrees that year. A total of 25 graduates took the state bar exam for the first time in July 2018, and their pass rate was 52%. A total of 98 graduates of the law school sat for that exam and the overall pass rate was 20.4%.
Therefore, the ABA pulled its accreditation stating that it had fallen short of standards on student admissions and bar passage rates. The school is scheduled to shut down for good in spring 2020.
Don’t Let Accreditation Issues Slow You Down!
We have often been contacted by medical students, resident physicians, fellows, and foreign medical graduates, when experiencing problems with their medical school or graduate medical education (GME) programs. Don’t wait until it is too late to think of consulting with an experienced healthcare attorney regarding possible solutions. Even when it may appear to be too late, it may not actually be too late to recover. Click here to read one of my prior blogs for more information on accreditation matters in graduate medical education (GME) programs.
Contact Experienced Health Law Attorneys Today.
The attorneys of The Health Law Firm provide legal representation to medical students, resident physicians, and fellows in academic disputes, disciplinary cases, and disputes with their programs, schools, or institutions. These include graduate medical education (GME) hearings, contract negotiations, conduct committee hearings, charges of irregular behavior, issues with the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), the United States Medical Licensing Examinations (USMLE) and the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), license applications, board certification applications and hearings, credential hearings, and civil and administrative litigation.
To contact The Health Law Firm, please call (407) 331-6620 or (850) 439-1001 and visit our website at www.TheHealthLawFirm.com.
Sources:
Cueto, Emma. “For-Profit Ariz. Law School Drops ABA Suit Over Accreditation.” Law360. (January, 16, 2019). Web.
Ward, Stephanie. “Arizona Summit Law School agrees to drop its lawsuit against ABA.” ABA Journal. (Journal 16, 2019). Web.
About the Author: George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law. He is the President and Managing Partner of The Health Law Firm, which has a national practice. Its main office is in the Orlando, Florida, area. www.TheHealthLawFirm.com The Health Law Firm, 1101 Douglas Ave., Altamonte Springs, FL 32714, Phone: (407) 331-6620.
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