Memorandum from Standards Committee to Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar (Aug. 15, 2025)
Brian Leiter (Chicago), ABA Council on Legal Education Ignores Critics, Offers No Substantive Responses, and Says "Full Speed Ahead" With Disrupting Legal Education at Most of the Nation's Law Schools:
The contempt for law schools and legal educators in this memo is palpable, given the devastating (and still unanswered) criticisms of the proposal to double experiential credit hours required for graduation. The two small concessions are: (1) the Council now recommends that 3 of the 12 required experiential hours can be earned in the first year of law school; and (2) the curricular changes must be implemented no sooner than 2032-33. The latter gives law schools an opportunity to organize in opposition to these indefensible changes.
Reuters, ABA Seeks to Salvage Law School Hands-on Learning Proposal Amid Pushback From Deans:
The American Bar Association is taking steps to appease critics of a proposal that would double law students' required number of hands-on learning credits with several concessions meant to make the plan more palatable.
The modified proposal, however, is still likely to face opposition from critics who have accused the ABA of exerting too much control over law school curriculum and driving up the cost of a law degree. …
Northwestern Pritzker School of Law professor Daniel Rodriguez said the revisions are unlikely to win over critics like himself who believe the ABA is going too far in dictating curriculum without providing adequate data to justify the proposed changes.
"There is a conspicuous lack of what we might call evidence-based analysis in the council’s work," Rodriguez said.
- Josh Blackman (South Texas), The ABA Disregards Law School Objections, Mandates 12 Credits of Experiential Learning
- Gerard N. Magliocca (Indiana-Indianapolis), The ABA Gets An F
Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:
- ABA, Legal Ed Council Proposes To Double Experiential Learning Accreditation Requirement To 12 Credits
- ABA, Survey on Credits for Experiential Learning Courses: Summary of Results
- Barry Currier (Former Managing Director, ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar):
- Joseph Kearney (Dean, Marquette), Brian Leiter (Chicago) & Derek Muller (Notre Dame), ABA Should Withdraw Proposal To Double The Number Of Required Experiential Learning Credits
- Law.com, Law Deans Push Back On ABA Proposal To Double Experiential Learning Credits
- Brian Leiter (Chicago), Law Schools Should Oppose an ABA Proposal to Double the Experiential Learning Credits From 6 to 12
- Derek Muller (Notre Dame), Hard Questions About Experiential Learning, Legal Education, And The ABA
- Derek Muller (Notre Dame), Inside the ABA's Relentless Quest to Make Law School Accreditation More Tedious and More Expensive
- Reuters, ABA Plan To Double Experiential Learning Accreditation Requirement Spurs Criticism About Accreditor Overreach
- Reuters, ABA Proposal To Increase Number Of Experiential Credits Required Of Law School Graduates
- Reuters, Deans Oppose ABA's Plan To Double Experiential Learning Credits For Law Students
- Daniel Rodriguez (Northwestern), ABA Accreditation Once More: Are They Making Me Eat My Words?
- David Yellen (Miami), The ABA Standards And Regulatory Modesty
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