Law Schools Gain Greater Autonomy
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The American Bar Association is loosening its reins on law schools following years of criticism that its myriad rules have driven up the cost of a legal education and discouraged experimentation.
The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar on August 9 embraced a series of changes that outgoing chairman Kent Syverud described as the most “momentous” reforms the section has pursued in recent history. Some of those changes would eliminate rules deemed too onerous, while others are intended to encourage schools to innovate.
The council moved to eliminate the tenure requirement for doctrinal faculty and deans, make it easier for students to take online courses, get rid of the minimum faculty size rule, and create a clearer path for schools seeking variances from the accreditation standards, among other changes. Even a new accreditation standard that will require law schools to track the learning outcomes of their students was drafted in a way that gives schools plenty of leeway to determine what those outcomes should be and how they should be quantified.
Read original articleTags: Kent Syverud, Law Schools, Law Schools Gain Greater Autonomy The American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education
