When Oakland University’s fall semester classes began Sept. 3, some students on campus, for the first time in the university’s history, were taking law school courses.

Beginning law school students enrolled at Lansing’s Cooley Law School can now take their first-term courses at Oakland University.

Thirty-three students make up the inaugural class of Cooley Law School students at Oakland University, which represents about 6 percent of the Raymond W. Starr Class, the 90th entering class at Cooley, according to Stephanie Gregg, assistant dean of admissions at Cooley.

Under the arrangement Oakland has with Cooley, Cooley students can take the same first-term classes at OU as those of their peers in Lansing. Classes in Criminal Law, Torts I, Property I, Contracts I and Constitutional Law I are being taught by Cooley’s regular full-time faculty. Introduction to Law, a non-credit course, also is offered at OU.

The arrangement increases the accessibility of first-term law classes to a host of people in southeast Michigan. Because of American Bar Association (ABA) standards, Cooley and Oakland will offer only first-term classes. But the arrangement allows students to get a term under their belt before making the commitment to drive to Lansing each week.

Cooley students attending OU for their first term also are eligible for the same scholarships and services as their fellow students in Lansing.

For more information on the Cooley Law School classes at OU, contact Brandi Houghton in 211 Varner Hall or at cooley@oakland.edu.