James Flaherty joined the faculty of Cleveland-Marshall in 1966, during a time when the school was private and affiliated with Baldwin-Wallace College. Cleveland-Marshall Law School’s existence was put in jeopardy when this relationship was terminated, and he was appointed bursar and assistant dean. During a two-year period, he managed to make the law school financially solvent and assisted with merging the law school with Cleveland State University. He initiated several programs during his tenure, including the country’s first minority and women’s affirmative-action admissions programs and the first use of the Federal Work Study Program for a law school. He was the director of Cleveland-Marshall’s CLE program for several years, played a significant role on key Grievance and Ethics committees of the local bar, and served on county arbitration panels.