Legal News

Future of For-Profit Kentucky Law School Hangs on Library Plans

By Dan Slater

Back in February we covered the improbable tale of the improbably-named American Justice School of Law — a non-ABA-accredited, for-profit law school in Paducah, Kentucky. American Justice had been sued by it students for fraud, resulting in a settlement whereby the owners of the for-profit school transferred ownership to an investor group headed by a physician named Laxmaiah Manchikanti.

At the time, Dr. Manchikanti told the Law Blog that the purchase would prove prescient if he could win the school ABA accreditation. (The main reason behind the students’ lawsuit was the school’s failure to win accreditation. In Kentucky, graduates of non-accredited schools can’t take the bar.) His plan? Professors and books. “There were some deficiencies with the staff, and the law library was inadequate,” said the doctor. “It didn’t have enough books. . .we’re going to invest heavy amounts in the library.”

In the interim, the school has gained a new name, Barkley School of Law, and a new dean, Larry Putt, but not a new library, at least yet, according to the ABA Journal. School spokesman Ray Lane told the Paducah Sun that classes will be canceled if the new $5 million library and the renovation of a classroom building are not completed in the next two months. (Pictured, right, is the plan for the new building.)

Classes will resume next year, however, after completion of the construction projects that are planned with the goal of winning ABA accreditation, Lane said.

In February, writes the ABA Journal, the school lost five professors when they announced their resignations and called for a new dean. Students were also unhappy. About 30 of them sued the school saying administrators sought to enrich themselves at their expense. The students said they paid $13,250 a semester for tuition, but there was no toilet paper in the restrooms, copiers and printers often had no paper, and the lights were once turned off in the library because the school couldn’t pay its bills.

The school says it has since refunded more than $250,000 in tuition.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 28, 2008 (boomark / email).