Following up on my previous posts on Friday’s meeting of the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar:

• ABA Council Proposes To Allow Accreditation Of Fully Online Law Schools Like Purdue (Nov. 18, 2023)
• ABA Council Unanimously Votes To Send Law School Free Speech Accreditation Standard To House Of Delegates For Final Approval In February (Nov. 20, 2023)
• ABA Council Votes To Nix Accreditation Requirement That Law Libraries Have A Physical Collection (Nov. 21, 2023)

Reuters, ABA Eyes Increasing Hands-On Learning Requirement For Law Schools:

Legal education may soon get more practical, thanks to a forthcoming proposal that is winning early support inside the American Bar Association.

The arm of the ABA that oversees law schools is developing a proposal to increase the number of so-called experiential credits students must take in order to graduate. The credits may include clinics, externships, and simulation courses that involve hypothetical legal tasks — intended to give students experience handling real-world matters.

Members of the ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar indicated widespread support for more hands-on learning during a Friday discussion during a quarterly meeting in Dallas. A working group is ironing out the proposal’s details and plans to gather more input from law schools. …

The ABA did not have any practical learning requirement until 2014, when it mandated that every student complete a minimum of six credits of experiential coursework. The working group on Friday presented three potential updates, one of which would increase that minimum to 15 credits. … The other two proposals involve increasing the minimum to nine credits, either with or without a limit on the number of simulation credits that may apply. … An earlier survey of law schools found that 57% of respondents favored increasing the experiential credit requirement, with nine credits emerging as the most popular option.