1st class set to graduate from Indiana Tech law school

May 13, 2016

1st class set to graduate from Indiana Tech law school

WANE Staff Reports

FORT WAYNE, Ind.

Indiana Tech will graduate its first class of law students Saturday, a milestone for a law school that spent months in accreditation limbo before finally earning the all-important endorsement this year.

Nineteen students will receive Juris Doctor degrees Saturday from Indiana Tech Law School. Charles Cercone, dean of the law school, said the day will be “historic.”

“For the university I think it’s a historic day because this graduation marks another step forward for it to be a nationally known institution of higher education,” said Cercone.

Founded in 2012, Indiana Tech Law School was denied a provisional accreditation last year, a blow to the school because law schools depend on accreditation in order for their graduates to take the bar examination required to practice law.

In March, though, after adjustments and what Cercone at the time described simply as “hard work,” the school received provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association. Provisional accreditation entitles Indiana Tech Law School to all the rights of a fully accredited law school, and enables its graduates to take the bar exam in any American jurisdiction.

The bar, of course, is the next step for the 19 students set to walk on Saturday.

First, though: Celebration, and maybe a sigh of relief.

“It’s very exciting,” said student Amy Thompson. “It’s been three years coming and we’ve gone through about anything, I think, a law student could experience and it feels really good to finally be through that and walking on Saturday.”