Against The Tide

-In this episode: Juggling multiple jobs, family and impossible hours is a small price to pay for Diane Sullivan and her fellow students at Commonwealth School of Law. They have one dream... to create a better future for themselves and their families by becoming an at

-In this episode: "Draft card burnings, anti-war protests, feminist marches, racial riots, and political assassinations punctuated the year 1968". The son of Russian immigrants, Lawrence Velvel matures from a precocious Chicago teenager, to a law professor at the raci

-In this episode: Amidst the national uproar of the Vietnam War, the sentencing of The Chicago Seven, and the horror of Kent State, Velvel finds himself labeled as an "enemy of the state" in conservative, 1960's Kansas.

-In this episode: Packing up home, family and a sixteen year career in Washington DC, Velvel heads north to Lowell, Massachusetts to begin his new life as Dean of Commonwealth School of Law. But would the new dean succeed in fixing the ailing CSL, or did the schools'

-In this episode: As President Michael Boland's past begins to come to light and his paranoia increases, Velvel finds his career, even his future, at stake. Could he, and the determined CSL students, attempt the impossible?

-In this episode: Exhausted, broke, and disillusioned, Commonwealth students don't know were to turn next. Velvel, on the other hand, is staking everything he owns on a new law school. Is there room for both in The Merrimack Valley?

-In this episode: After months of endless, determined work The Massachusetts School of Law finally opens its doors. But soon after, former senator, Paul Tsongas, determined to bring a law school to Lowell, joins the board at their rival, Commonwealth. Can the outsider

-In this episode: Amidst intense pressure on MSL to merge with Commonwealth, former Senator Paul Tsongas, Chairman of Commonwealth's Board of Trustees, is named Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Regents. Tsongas' new position places him in charge of determining w

-In this episode: As Commonwealth struggles to survive, and Tsongas tries to wield his influence to bring a Law School to Lowell, Velvel and MSL find themselves drawn into a bigger and tougher battle than they had ever imagined.

-In this episode: Whoosh! At 12:38 am on October 22, 1989, the MSL library explodes into flames. The evidence points soundly to arson, but who hates MSL so much that they are willing to risk their safety and future in an attempt to burn down the building? And could

-In this episode: Despite a longstanding history of classism and snobbery in the legal profession, Velvel becomes more determined than ever to create a school that would belie commonly accepted stereotypes about and who and what makes up a lawyer. Meanwhile MSL's fir

-In this episode: By the spring of 1991 MSL's enrollment had surged and the school had put down a million dollars on a beautiful new red brick building. It was time, thought Velvel and Coyne, to seek accreditation from the ABA. But the more they learn about the ABA

-In this episode: Could MSL satisfy the ABA standards without sacrificing everything MSl stands for, or in order to survive must they turn MSL into another eilitist law school? Although the ABA claimed to applaud innovative and diverse law schools, a visit by the ABA

-In this episode: In 1992 the faculty at MSL spent six months researching and writing a 500 page self study that they considered a valuable discourse on legal education. Entitled "The Deeply Unsatisfactory Nature of Legal Education Today". But would their

-In this episode: The ABA report finally arrives and what Velvel reads makes him physically ill. Never content to suffer the slings and arrows however, Velvel and the MSL faculty swiftly switch back into offensive gear. Meanwhile the mystery of the law school fire a

-In this episode: From the Board of Governors, to The Department of Justice, to The Department of Education, and finally to the ABA House of Delegates, MSL pursues their accreditation case against the ABA. Has the case been stacked against them from the start, or has

-In this episode: In a dimly lit modern court room, MSL's anti-trust case against the ABA finally begins. The Judge, J. William Ditter Jr. claims to never have thought about the issues involved in MSL's conspiracy suit, however it soon becomes clear that Ditter is fa

-In this episode: When a lawyer from The US Department of Justice informs MSL that not only had the DOJ procured evidence that proved the ABA's antitrust conspiracy, but that the judge presiding over MSL's antitrust case had not fully disclosed his involvement with th

-In this episode: MSL takes its case all the way to the White House, and believes it finally has an ally in the form of the Anti-Trust Division of The United States Department of Justice. With the DOJ firmly on their side, MSL must finally prevail...but would they?