July 21, 2008

American Bar Association Appoints Cooley Law School Associate Dean to Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity

Associate Dean John Nussbaumer

LANSING, MICH. – The American Bar Association (ABA) recently named John Nussbaumer, associate dean of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School's Auburn Hills campus, to its prestigious Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity in the Profession. Cooley Law School is one of the nation's most diverse law schools with the most African-American students of any U.S. law school, the fifth most Asian-American students, the sixth most Hispanic heritage students and the most foreign-national students.

Nussbaumer joins the 26-member council charged with enhancing racial and ethnic diversity in the legal profession and within the ABA, encouraging students of color and foreign-nationals to pursue and successfully navigate the path to a legal career. He was appointed to this position by ABA President-elect H. Thomas Wells Jr.

"I'm honored to be appointed to the ABA Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity in the Legal Profession," said John Nussbaumer, associate dean of Cooley. "In addition to its efforts to increase access and opportunity to America's law schools through various pipeline initiatives and programs, this group has opposed efforts by the ABA Section of Legal Education to impose law school accreditation requirements that would increase reliance on standardized tests like the LSAT that fail to account for many attributes that make for a good law student and a good lawyer."

"At a time when almost two-thirds of all African-American applicants and half of all Hispanic applicants are totally shutout from every law school they apply to, it's more important than ever for us to work to make sure that all applicants who have a reasonable chance of success in law school are given the opportunity to prove through performance that their LSAT score is not, necessarily, the best measure of law school success," Nussbaumer said.

Nussbaumer also is the recipient of the 2008 Legal Education Award from the ABA Council of Legal Education Opportunity and the 2007 Presidential Award from the National Bar Association, the nation’s oldest and largest organization of African-American lawyers.

Nussbaumer is a professor at Cooley Law School and the associate dean of Cooley’s Auburn Hills campus. He has written extensively on issues affecting diversity in legal education and has presented research findings at the National Bar Association’s 2006 and 2007 national conventions. He also was invited by Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones to speak about diversity at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference in September 2007, and by the American Constitution Society to speak at the National Press Club in November 2007.

"We are proud of Dean Nussbaumer’s work and achievements toward improving diversity in legal education," said Don LeDuc, president of Cooley. "This appointment recognizes his work and illustrates the trust the legal profession has in him to advise on this subject at a national level."

Dean Nussbaumer is a 1976 honors graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. Before joining the Cooley faculty in 1984, he served as a law clerk to former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary S. Coleman and as an assistant public defender for the State Appellate Defender Office.

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Celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, Cooley Law School is the largest law school in the country. Founded in 1972, it operates J.D. programs across Michigan in downtown Lansing, Auburn Hills and downtown Grand Rapids. Today, Cooley Law School has more than 12,000 graduates across the nation and worldwide and also offers joint degree and master of laws programs. Cooley offers enrollment three times a year; in January, May and September. Additional information about Cooley can be found at www.cooley.edu.