ABA Legal Ed council rejects Golden Gate University’s plan to end its JD program

The ABA Journal..

Golden Gate University School of Law’s teach-out plan has been rejected by the American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

On Thursday, after years of struggling to meet the ABA’s accreditation standards and financial woes, the San Francisco-based law school announced it will discontinue its juris doctorate program when this academic year ends. According to the letter signed by Barbara Mendelson, the chair of the university’s board of trustees, and David Fike, the university president, current JD students could complete their ABA-accredited degrees through arrangements with partnering institutions to earn an ABA-accredited degree.

However, the ABA council rejected the plan because it “did not include sufficient detail relating to the operation of a teach-out.” A revised plan can be submitted by Jan. 12.

University officials “were surprised and disappointed to see that the ABA decided to post this public notice,” according to an email to the ABA Journal on Friday. “We strongly object to this posting.”

The teach-out plan, sent to the ABA in October, was “a provisional approach” as the school considered all options before deciding to shutter the program, the email continues. “We always expected that we would submit a more detailed teach-out plan to the ABA if and when that became necessary. Discussions with potential teach-out partners are well underway.”

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https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/golden-gate-law-scraps-jd-program