Oakland University and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School dedicated the Thomas M. Cooley Law Library at the OU campus in 216 O’Dowd Hall on Nov. 3 during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“Now entering our second year in this partnership, we have been able to provide students from Oakland and Macomb Counties the opportunity to take advantage of the outstanding academic program that Cooley offers,” Oakland University President Gary Russi said. “Partnerships like this one are a key component of the vision we have for Oakland University.”

Cooley President and Dean Don LeDuc agreed that the partnership between Oakland University and Cooley Law School is an exciting one for both institutions.

"Cooley Law School has long understood that Oakland County was an underserved area in legal education,” LeDuc said. “It has been very satisfying to work with Oakland University and to forge a vision for both institutions. Along with offering access to a juris doctor degree to students in southeast Michigan, Cooley now offers Master of Laws programs in tax and intellectual property on Oakland's campus.

“This is just a start. We see many more opportunities that will benefit not only Cooley and Oakland, but law students and the legal community."

The new law library provides law students and Oakland-area lawyers the high-quality facilities to support their study and work.

The library holds more than 25,000 volumes and volume equivalents. These include all U.S. Supreme Court cases going back to the 1880s, federal court cases back to the 1960s, state cases back to the 1920s, all volumes of official reports of the Michigan Supreme Court since 1940, and standard secondary sources for legal research. Students also have online access to law review journals and the LEXIS and Westlaw research tools.

Cooley began its partnership with Oakland University in September 2002 when it started offering first-term courses to newly admitted Cooley students. In April 2003, Cooley added a satellite site to the OU campus, which now allows the first two years of the program to be completed at the OU campus.