Contact: Michael J. Davis, law school, (785) 864-9244
LAWRENCE - Michael J. Davis, University of Kansas law professor, was named chair of the accreditation committee for the American Bar Association during the annual ABA meetings in July in New York City and London.
Davis was vice chair of the 19-member committee for the past year and begins his sixth year on the committee, which oversees accreditation of U.S. law schools requesting evaluation. His term as chair is for one year and his duties are executed from his offices at KU and in Kansas City, Mo., where he is a member of Stinson, Mag and Fizzell law firm.
More than 40 states, including Kansas, require graduation from an ABA-accredited law school as a condition for admission to the bar. The U.S. Department of Education designated the ABA as the official accrediting agency for U.S. law schools. During the 1999-2000 academic year, 184 law schools were accredited.
The ABA accreditation committee includes other legal educators, deans, practicing attorneys, judges and lay people.
Davis joined the KU law faculty in 1971. He served as university general counsel from 1974 to 1980 and as law dean from 1980 to 1989. He was dean during the KU law school's 1985 accreditation review and served as chair of the law school's self-study committee that assessed compliance with standards in preparation for the 1992 review.
Davis received a bachelor's degree from Kansas State University and law degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.