Bar Exam Key for Husson Law School
By Judy Harrison, Bangor Daily News, Maine
Feb. 27–BANGOR, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments Friday at Penobscot County Superior Court over whether graduates of the proposed Husson College School of Law will be able to take the state bar exam.
The 1 p.m. hearing, which is open to the public, originally was to be held today but was rescheduled because of the weather.
The State Board of Education in July authorized Husson College, known primarily as a school offering courses in business and health care, to establish a law school.
The state’s only law school, the University of Maine School of Law, is in Portland. It is accredited by the American Bar Association. Husson will not seek ABA accreditation.
Husson President William H. Beardsley said last summer that if the state’s high court allowed the graduates to take the state bar exam, the Husson College School of Law would open this fall with an initial class of 30 students.
The state’s high court decides who can take the exam, which allows law school graduates to practice in Maine.
The justices will hear oral arguments Friday but are not expected to issue a written decision for several weeks.
Two of the seven justices have recused themselves from the decision because of conflicts. Justice Donald Alexander teaches part time at the law school in Portland. Kelly Mead, wife of Justice Andrew Mead, teaches part time at Husson.
With one exception, only graduates of law schools accredited by the American Bar Association are allowed to take the Maine bar exam right after graduation.
Graduates of the Massachusetts School of Law in Andover, Mass., may take the bar exam in Maine immediately after they have passed the bar exam in Massachusetts. Those who have graduated from other law schools not accredited by the ABA but who have passed another state’s bar exam and have been licensed to practice for three years may take the exam in Maine.
The Maine State Bar Association, the professional organization to which about 85 percent of Maine lawyers belong, opposes Husson’s proposal. The association’s board of governors voted in January to oppose Husson’s request, said Brett Baber, the association’s president.
“The board felt it was important that a law school have received profession-specific accreditation from an appropriate accrediting body — in this case the ABA,” Baber said Tuesday. “Husson’s plan does not include ABA accreditation.”
The Board of Bar Examiners, which administers the bar exam, and the Maine Trial Lawyers Association also oppose graduates of the proposed Husson Law School being allowed to take the bar exam.
The University of Maine School of Law has remained neutral.
If the Husson College School of Law opens, it would be the first time there has been more than one law school in Maine. The state’s first law school opened in Bangor in 1898, holding classes in the Isaac Farrar Mansion. It closed in 1920.
The state was without a law school for almost 30 years until the Portland University Law School opened in 1949. It became part of the state’s university system in 1962.
Since then, the school’s 2,900 graduates have scattered to at least 42 states and abroad, said Peter Pitegoff, dean of the University of Maine Law School. About two-thirds of its graduates practice in the state, including Leigh I. Saufley, chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
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