Thursday, July 14, 2011

BREAKING! Thomas Cooley Law School Fights Back And Sues a Law Firm and Four 'John Does'

A few months ago I relayed information about Thomas M. Cooley Law School. It was from a little bird named Ch. Burns. The school has now filed two lawsuits, claiming that their reputation has been damaged by Ch. Burns and three other "John Does." The other lawsuit is against a New York City Law Firm. The suits  (see here and here) were filed in Ingham County (Michigan) Circuit Court. Jesse Strauss and David Anziska are the two attorneys at Kurzon Strauss who have been accused of defaming the school.

When asked about the lawsuit, Anziska stated, "This is one of the most ridiculous, absurd lawsuits filed in recent memory."

When I first wrote about the allegations that Burns sent to me, the associate dean of legal affairs and general counsel, James Thelen, at Cooley insisted that I remove my posts. After I spoke with my own legal counsel, I refused to remove any of my earlier posts. But - and as requested by Thelen - I did post his letter to me.

In that note, Thelen wrote:
Your report regarding Thomas M. Cooley Law School is, at best, false and misleading; at worst, it is defamatory and actionable.  A simple Google search would have demonstrated that the defamatory material passed off as truth – admittedly by your own “hunch” – is nothing but a regurgitated Internet rumor circulated and discredited months ago.  (I’ve reviewed too your Twitter feed regarding these allegations, which is stated as fact and is thus defamatory as well.)
He continued:
You should immediately remove these defamatory postings from your “All Education Matters” blog page, as well as from your Twitter feed and any other site that you control.  I also expect that you will post an appropriate statement of the reason for your retractions.
You can read the entire letter below in the related links.

I will be following these suits carefully, and will provide updates.

Related Links


"Cooley Law School Files Suit to Protect Students, Alumni, and Reputation," Thomas M Cooley Law School  (July 14, 2011)


"Thomas M Cooley Law School - What Are They Hiding?" AEM (June 15, 2011)

"Thomas M Cooley Law School Scam"

"Repost - Investigating Law Schools (Class Action Suit)," AEM (May 22, 2011)

"[UPDATE] Dean Jame Thelen from Thomas M Cooley Law School Responds with a Threatening Letter," AEM (April 28, 2011)

"Part II: Thomas M Cooley Law School," AEM (April 28, 2011)

"[UPDATED] MUST READ: Thomas M Cooley Law School Under Investigation For Serious Title IV Violations," AEM (April 27, 2011)

James Thelen, associate dean of legal affairs and general counsel for Thomas M Cooley Law School

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This school can't be serious with this lawsuit. Discovery will be a bear. I can see every attendee and graduate's records being at issue. Opinions and investigations beging the basis of a defamation suit. This complaint is a pure Slapp suit and if it had been borought or maybe transferred to NY might even be subject to both sanctions and expidited hearing, decision and dismissal with sancations.

Anonymous said...

I would bet anything that Thelen graduated from Thomas Cooley. These schools like to hire their own grads to keep the employment stats up. One nice $100,000+ gig can skew the numbers for the rest of his class.... sounds just like the practices at Oklahoma City University School of Law.

J.R. Adams said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

This could well be the turning point. Cooley will shut its doors after it loses this lawsuit. This is the death throws of the worst law school in the nation.

Good riddance, Cooley!

Meyer said...

I linked to this post in my blog. Legal education is new ground for me, but I found this very interesting. Comment if you'd like to add something.

Cryn Johannsen said...

@Meyer - thanks for linking to AEM!

Justine Valinotti said...

Are Thelen and Andrew Spillane (of Marquette infamy) related? Take a look at Spillane's photo here:
http://thirdtierreality.blogspot.com/2011/07/profiles-in-shameless-ass-kissing.html

Seriously...Like Anon 9:16 and others, I think this could be a turning point. It will bring about positive change if more of those who have been ruined by the educational-financial-government complex/cartel come together and share their experiences.

Schools like Cooley are like addicts and the heroin or crack or crystal meth (or whichever drug you care to use) is the money students can borrow to attend those schools. What that means, of course, is that the withdrawal will be ugly at first, with more actions like the one Thelen just took. But the fact that he is so behaving is evidence that we do have a point and our cause is winnable.

Cryn Johannsen said...

Justine - interesting thoughts. You might be onto something . . .