2024-2025 Student Handbook

ABA STANDARD 510 PROCESS

As an ABA-accredited law school, Suffolk University Law School is subject to the ABA Standards for Approval of Law schools. The Standards may be found at http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/standards.html. Any student at Suffolk University Law School who wishes to bring a formal complaint to the administration of the law school of a significant problem that directly implicates Suffolk University Law School's program of legal of education and its compliance with the ABA Standards should take the following steps:

1. The student should submit a complaint in writing to an Associate Dean or the Dean of Students. The written complaint should be submitted by email, U.S. mail, fax, or personal delivery.

2. The written complaint should describe the problem, behavior, program, or process in sufficient detail to permit an investigation and it should demonstrate how it implicates the law school's program of legal education and the school’s compliance with a particular and specified ABA Standard.

3. The written complaint must specify that it is a complaint regarding Suffolk University Law School's program of legal of education and its compliance with the ABA Standards.

4. The written complaint must provide the name of the student submitting the complaint and contact i nformation including the student’s official Suffolk email address, street address, and phone number for further communication about the complaint.

Procedures for Addressing Complaints:

1. The administrator to whom the complaint is submitted (or the administrator's designee) should acknowledge the complaint within five business days of receipt of the written complaint. Acknowledgment may be made by e-mail, U.S. mail, or by personal delivery. 2. Within two weeks of acknowledgment of the complaint, the administrator or the administrator's designee shall either meet with the complaining student or respond to the substance of the complaint in writing. The student shall either receive a substantive response to the complaint or information about what steps the law school is taking to address the complaint or further investigate the complaint.

Within ten days of being advised of any action the law school is taking to address the matter, the student may appeal the decision to the Dean of the law school.

3. Any decision made on appeal by the Dean shall be final.

4. A copy of the written complaint and a summary of the process and resolution of the complaint shall be kept in the office of the Dean of the law school for a period of eight years.

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