There are some new applicants for DETC accreditation, and I'm looking for some info on them: Southwestern Law School: I see that they're ABA accredited already. Any ideas on how they're looking to benefit from DETC accreditation? Orlando University: I never heard of this place before. Is there a link somewhere for this school? I searched through a few different search engines and couldn't find anything.
Southwestern Law School: I believe they now offer LLM's. ABA doesn't normally accredit LLM programs so there would be a "gap" in accreditation.
Southwestern is a "standalone" law school; it is not connected to any larger university. Like many standalone law schools, it doesn't have regional accreditation. In such cases, the US Dept. of Education accepts ABA approval as a form of "national accreditation" instead. But ABA normally evaluates and approves JD programs only. So if a standalone, non-RA law school wants to offer other types of law-related degrees, like an LL.M. or an M.L.S., the accreditation status of those degrees is unclear. Southwestern does offer LL.M. degrees, including online LL.M. degrees. If they get DETC accreditation, then their online LL.M. degrees should have solid USDOE-recognized accreditation, and will therefore qualify for Federal financial assistance.
The ABA approves of JD programs and assents to LLM programs. What the ABA's assent to an LLM program means is that, in the ABA's opinion, the LLM program is not going to take away too many resources from the school's JD program.
Evidently the president of Orlando University is Jim Jian Zhao, MD, Phd, MBA that now or previously worked at Laboratory of Diagnostic Molecular Pathology, Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratories, Orlando Regional Healthcare System, Orlando, FL. Pathologists