7.10 City University of New York School of Law Student Complaints Regarding ABA Compliance – Standard 510

City University of New York School of Law Student Complaints
Regarding ABA Compliance – Standard 510

The City University School of Law is an American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law school. As such we are subject to the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools – http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/standards.html

ABA Standard 510 allows any student at the school to bring a formal complaint to the law school administration identifying any issue of non-compliance with the ABA Standards.

To lodge a formal complaint a student may submit that specific complaint in writing to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Yvette Wilson-Barnes. This may be done via email using the student’s law school email account to yvette.wilson-barnes@law.cuny.edu , via U.S. Mail (2 Court Square, Office of Student Affairs, LIC, NY 11101), or via personal delivery (Room 5/117). Anonymous complaints may be brought to the Student Affairs reception desk or submitted anonymously directly via the “Submit An Anonymous Complaint” link below.

Submit An Anonymous Complaint

Example of Complaint Regarding Compliance with the Standards

If a student’s complaint is that the law school does not offer a Legal Ethics/Professional Responsibility course it may implicate the school’s Compliance with ABA Standards. However, a complaint regarding a grade in that class would not implicate the school’s compliance with the Standards.

Procedure for Lodging a Complaint

The written complaint will need to describe the potentially offending behavior, program, or process and how the student perceives it to violate the Standards. Please provide as much detail as possible, so the administration has sufficient information to conduct a thorough investigation.

Procedure for Reviewing Complaint

The Dean of Students will acknowledge receipt of a complaint and begin an investigation of the complaint within ten business days of receiving the complaint.

The investigation will be concluded within 30 days of the receipt of the complaint, unless more time is needed and reason for that will be noted in the record.

Upon completion of the complaint investigation, a written response will be sent to the complainant along with any necessary corrective actions.

A response cannot be personally sent to a complainant if they file anonymously.

Procedure for Appeal

If the complainant is not satisfied with the investigative findings and response, they may file an appeal in writing to the Law School Dean Mary Lu Bilek. This may be done via email using the student’s law school email account to Mary Lu Bilek , via U.S. Mail (2 Court Square, Office of the Dean, LIC, NY 11101), or via personal delivery (Room 5/106E). If a student would like to submit the complaint anonymously they may click the “Submit An Anonymous Appeal” link below.

The student must file the appeal within 14 business days of receipt of the response. The Dean will convene a subcommittee consisting of a faculty member, an administrator, and a student representative to review the original complaint, the investigation, the response, and the appeal in order to make a recommendation. The Dean will then determine if further action is needed.

Submit An Anonymous Appeal

Procedure for Record Keeping

All complaints, investigations, responses, appeals, decisions and resolution of the complaint will be kept on file in the Office of Student Affairs.

Non-Retaliation

The law school will not retaliate in any way against an individual who makes a complaint under this policy.

Administrative policy effective October 17, 2016