ABA defends accrediting of US law schools amid mounting pressure

By Karen Sloan

Aug 22 (Reuters) - The American Bar Association council that oversees U.S. law school accreditation on Friday adopted a new set of “core principles and values,” defining and defending its work amid criticism from the Trump administration and others.

President Donald Trump in April directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to assess whether to suspend or terminate the ABA as the government’s official law school accreditor, accusing it of imposing “unlawful ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ requirements." Several states are also reviewing their reliance on the organization to accredit law schools, and some legal educators have accused the ABA of going too far in mandating curriculum.

Friday's official statement of principles and values said the purpose of the ABA’s law school accreditation system is to ensure students graduate as effective and ethical lawyers, protect students from economic exploitation and legal clients from incompetent lawyers, and support legal innovation while also promoting the rule of law.

It said the ABA's law school standards are not intended to regulate the number of new lawyers and law schools or force all law schools to be alike, but to ensure a quality legal education without driving up student costs.

"I hope these principles will enhance our dialog with stakeholders," said Steve Bahls, chair of the committee that developed the accreditation principles.

The stakes are high for the ABA, which is under threat of losing its long-held status as the primary regulator of law schools.

In July, Ohio became the third state to reconsider rules requiring attorneys to attend an ABA-accredited school to be admitted to practice law, joining Florida and Texas. The Supreme Court of Florida said its review was prompted by the ABA’s diversity mandate for law schools, while officials in Texas and Ohio did not cite specific reasons for their inquiries.

Those reviews have sparked a wider conversation about whether students and law schools would benefit from competition from other accreditors or pathways to licensure that don’t require graduating from an ABA-approved school. The Association of American Law Schools and a majority of Texas law deans have come out publicly in favor of keeping the ABA as the regulator of law schools.

A debate over doubling the number of hands-on learning credits that law students must complete has also reignited criticisms that the ABA is imposing too many curricular requirements on schools without adequately justifying their need and driving up costs.

The ABA’s law school council on Friday delayed a revised version of its hands-on learning proposal to allow further consideration. Critics said the proposed modifications are minor and ignore their wider concerns over accreditor overreach.

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