Dean of Troubled Chapman Law School Resigns Suddenly

Jeremy Miller, the founding dean of Chapman University’s law school, has left the post in the midst of the school’s renewed bid for accreditation by the American Bar Assn., sources said Monday.

Miller, 42, resigned Thursday, although faculty were not notified until Monday and students were to receive word from President James L. Doti today.

University officials declined to explain the move, saying more information would be released today. Miller’s secretary said he was on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

Parham H. Williams Jr., a professor and former dean at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in Alabama, has been named to replace Miller by June 1, sources said. It was unclear who would serve as acting dean.

Miller’s departure comes as Chapman prepares to appeal a decision in January by an American Bar Assn. committee that denied the 2-year-old school accreditation.

Sources said the failed bid played a role in Miller’s departure, but the precise reasons for his leaving were unclear.

The accreditation rejection meant Chapman cannot join the ranks of the 180 most respected law schools in the country, and its graduates cannot qualify to take the bar exam in other states. Doti has said the university planned to file the appeal with the association within the coming weeks.

Chapman does not have State Bar accreditation either, so its graduates could take the bar in California but only if they had passed a “baby bar” exam in their freshman year. Only 14% of first-year students passed that test last year, Chapman officials have said.

The ABA does not release information about its decisions, but Chapman officials have attributed the school’s rejection to the high failure rate on the baby bar and perceptions that the curriculum is not rigorous enough.

University officials decided to go for ABA approval first because it is more highly regarded in legal circles and would mean automatic state bar accreditation.