Legal News

Doctor to Attempt Salvage of Law School

By Dan Slater

Last Thursday we brought you a somewhat improbable tale about the improbably-named American Justice School of Law — a non-ABA-accredited, for-profit law school in Paducah, Kentucky. The students, having sued the school for fraud, settled the case last week by forcing three of the owners — two deans and an accountant — to transfer ownership to an investor group headed by a physician in Paducah, Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti. (Here’s a report from the Courier-Journal.)

The Law Blog knows several lawyer-cum-doctors, and even a few doctors who’ve gone into law, but a physician owning a law school is new to us. So we called up Dr. Manchikanti (pictured), who specializes in pain management at a Paducah-based clinic, to ask about his plans for American Justice.

“The decision was made in 15 minutes,” the Indian-born Dr. Manchikanti told the Law Blog. “I was just going to invest in it as a small investor, like ten percent, and now here we are. I acquired 75 percent. It’s a great opportunity if we can get accreditation, and I’m about 90 percent certain we can get it with the right people.”

Getting ABA accrediation will be crucial to keeping American Justice running. 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. So what’s Dr. Manchikanti’s plan to win accreditation? 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. So we’re trying to get a dean who has experience with accreditation, and we’re going to invest heavy amounts in the library.”

Manchikanti’s no stranger to educational overhaul projects. In his hometown, located in the Magonda District of India, he says he built a college from scratch. He also sits on the Board of Regents and the board of trustees at Murray State University. Manchikanti estimates it will take about $4.5 million (plus $2.8 million in assumed debt) to fix American Justice.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 25, 2008 (boomark / email).