The American Bar Association (ABA) long has regulated the quality of law schools and legal education. As a former law dean who for a couple years served on the Accreditation Committee, I can say that the inspection and review process is rigorous, time-consuming, and, at times, perplexing and frustrating. Over the years, I have heard a number of law school deans complain about the accreditation process. I must admit that I never have considered any of the ABA standards to be the equivalent to one of the Ten Commandments.
For reasons that appear more political than educational, Ohio, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and other states are considering ending the ABA’s accreditation of law schools for purposes of establishing eligibility for taking their state’s bar exam. As JD Journal summarizes, “[t]he Texas Supreme Court is reviewing [the requirement that] attorneys in the state . . . graduate from . . . ABA[]–accredited law schools. In response, deans from eight of the state’s 10 ABA-approved law schools have issued a stark warning: eliminating this requirement would significantly harm Texas law graduates’ career mobility, reduce consumer transparency, and increase long-term legal costs.” Barry Currier, former Managing Director of Accreditation and Legal Education, American Bar Association – ABA – Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, offers his views about the Texas approach here.
TaxProf blog has been covering the issue of ABA accreditation for quite some time.
The review of ABA accreditation of law schools is now generating a response from the ABA. Reuters reports that the ABA “will undertake a sweeping review of its standards for law schools as states weigh dropping the organization as an accreditor and critics blame its regulations for driving up student costs. . . . The ABA may also eliminate its diversity and inclusion requirement for law schools, which has placed the ABA in the crosshairs of the Trump administration . . . .” Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, of course, have taken off in law schools in recent years and the ABA’s DEI initiatives have drawn considerable opposition.
Florida is considering several alternative to the current ABA accreditation system:
1. Reform Within the ABA Framework
2. A Florida-Based Accreditation System
3. Regional Partnerships
4. Alternative Pathways to Bar Admission
Years ago, the late Professor Michael Olivas, who served on scores of ABA inspection teams, said something to the effect that the ABA accreditation process was not good but was better than any of the alternatives. What alternatives, if any, should be considered? Can any state-wide or regional accreditation process be as thorough as the ABA system currently is? Will decentralization of accreditation encourage innovation in legal education and halt ever-increasing tuitions? Alternatively, will the end of ABA accreditation lead to more lax standards, poorer educational outcomes, et. at law schools?
