ABA Memorandum From Bridget Mary McCormack (Council Chair) & William Adams (Managing Director of Accreditation and Legal Education) (Jan. 23, 2024):
Matters for Notice and Comment: Standards 102 and 306
Deadline: March 25, 2024
At its meeting on November 17-18, 2023, the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar (the “Council”) directed the Strategic Review Committee (SRC) to propose Standards and Rules changes that would make a fully online law school eligible for provisional and full ABA-approval without the need to submit a substantive change application under Standard 105(a)(12). The SRC identified two Standards requiring revisions to accomplish this goal: Standard 102 on Provisional Approval and Standard 306 on Distance Education.
All proposed revisions and accompanying explanations are published on the Section’s website. These possible changes should be assessed for their potential to expand access, reduce costs, and promote innovation in legal education.
We solicit and encourage written comments on all the proposals listed above. The comment period will be 60 days instead of the usual 30 days. Please address all written comments to Bridget Mary McCormack, Council Chair, and send electronically, in .pdf format, to Fernando Mariduena by March 25, 2024. Written comments received after March 25, 2024, may not be included in the materials considered by the Council at its May 2024 meeting. These comments will be considered before generating a more firm proposal, which will itself likely be subject to further Notice and Comment.
In addition to comments on the proposals for revisions to Standards 102 and 306, we encourage written comments regarding any further revisions to specific Standards and Rules necessary to allow a fully online law school to seek ABA-approval, as well as the advisability of allowing a fully online law school to seek ABA-approval. Any comments received on this topic will also potentially be incorporated into a future proposal.
Because of the significance of this change and the potential for disruption to existing schools, the SRC anticipates that this proposal may go through more than one round of Notice and Comment before a final proposal is ready to be promulgated.
Standard 102: Provisional Approval
Summary: This Standard was revised to allow a fully online law school to seek ABA-approval, starting with provisional approval. A law school wishing to seek ABA-approval as a fully online law school must indicate this at the time it applies for provisional approval; if not, the law school must wait until it receives full ABA-approval and then apply for and receive Council acquiescence in a substantive change under Standard 105(a)(12)(i)-(ii). …
Standard 306: Distance Education
Summary: A few changes were made to this Standard. In subsection (d), language was added to differentiate between a law school that was initially approved as a fully online law school and one that was not for purposes of acquiescence in a substantive change to exceed the current limits related to Distance Education. Also, in subsection (d), language was revised to match previously made changes to Standard 105 regarding the current limits related to Distance Education. Finally, a new subsection (e) was added to explain that a fully online law school can seek ABA-approval as a cross-reference to Standard 102(h) on Provisional Approval.
ABA Journal, Legal Ed Council Calls for Comments Regarding Fully Online Law Schools
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