Latest news with #lawschools
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
ABA seeks to salvage law school hands-on learning proposal amid pushback from deans
Aug 18 (Reuters) - 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. The ABA's revised proposal, opens new tab, released Aug. 15, would still require law students to take 12 credits of clinics, externships or simulation courses that aim to recreate real legal work — up from the current six credits. But it offers more ways to obtain the required credits and delays implementation of the revised accreditation standard to give law schools more time to expand their experiential course offerings. The new proposal would let law students obtain three of the credits during their first year — which was prohibited in the original plan. They could also receive partial experiential credit for regular courses that include some hands-on elements, such as simulated client work or drafting transactional or litigation documents. The new proposal also delays implementation of the change from 2030 to no earlier than 2032. ABA's managing director of accreditation and legal education, Jennifer Rosato Perea, declined Monday to comment on the latest proposal. Opponents of the initial proposal — including many deans of ABA accredited law schools — wrote in public comments that the ABA had not provided enough evidence that the higher experiential credit requirement would benefit students and said that the requirement would be costly for schools. Some critics said it would be especially onerous for part-time students with day jobs or complained that the implementation period was too short. Supporters, including many clinical legal professors and others who teach experiential courses, countered that the change is necessary to produce practice-ready new attorneys and that concerns like cost and flexibility were overblown. Gautam Hans, a clinical professor at Cornell Law School and a proponent of doubling the experiential requirements, said Monday that he's 'cautiously optimistic' about the revised proposal and was pleased that the new version was only 'slightly changed' from the original. But 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. The ABA's Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is slated to discuss the updated proposal Friday, when it could approve a second round of public comment before making any final decision. Read more: ABA's plan to double hands-on credits for law students is rife with flaws, deans say ABA plan to boost law students' hands-on experience spurs criticism about accreditor overreach
New York Times
17-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Supreme Court Justices Disclose International Travel, Book Deals
Trips to lecture in Europe, Latin America and Hawaii. Millions of dollars in book deals. Income from teaching at prestigious law schools. Supreme Court justices offered a window into some of the perks of being part of the nation's highest court in their annual financial disclosures, which were released on Tuesday and covered the justices' activities last year. Under a federal law passed after the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, the justices must disclose gifts, travel and outside income. There has been increased scrutiny of the disclosures in recent years, particularly after revelations that Justice Clarence Thomas had failed to disclose years of lavish gifts and travel from wealthy friends, including the Texas billionaire Harlan Crow. Justice Thomas has said he did not believe that he was required to disclose the gifts. In his latest report, Justice Thomas listed no gifts or private jet travel. In an addendum, however, he wrote that he had 'inadvertently omitted' a life insurance policy from prior reports. The policy, he noted, was purchased in July 2001 and terminated last month. Justice Thomas indicated that the policy covered someone other than himself, and added that 'confusion arose on whether the policy needed to be disclosed.' He did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The forms are only a few pages and provide limited details. But they often give colorful examples of the justices' lives off the bench. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Reuters
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
ABA keeps law school diversity rule on hold into 2026 amid Trump crackdown
May 9 (Reuters) - The American Bar Association on Friday extended the suspension of its law school diversity and inclusion requirement amid increasing pressure from the Trump administration to cancel the rule. The ABA's Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar unanimously voted to extend the suspension of the rule — which requires law schools to demonstrate their commitment to diversity in recruitment, admissions and programming — through August 31, 2026. The council in a statement cited the shifting higher education landscape and litigation over President Donald Trump's executive orders as reasons to further suspend the diversity rule. "In light of these developments, the council determined that extraordinary circumstances exist in which compliance with [the diversity standard] would constitute extreme hardship for multiple law schools, and that the standard should not be presently enforced," the statement reads. The council initially suspended that rule in February after Trump issued a series of executive orders meant to curtail diversity efforts in the government, the private sector and in higher education. Attorney General Pam Bondi in March warned the ABA that its role as the federally recognized accreditor of U.S. law schools — which it has held since 1952 — could be revoked if it did not repeal the rule and scrap a planned revision of the standard, which she said discriminated based on sex and race. Trump in April signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to assess whether to suspend or terminate the ABA as the government's official law school accreditor, citing its 'unlawful 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' requirements,' as part of an executive order focused on reforming higher education accreditation. Attorneys general from 21 Republican-controlled states have also warned the ABA that its law school diversity rule is unlawful. State high courts in Texas and Florida have both said in recent weeks that they are reviewing their requirement that aspiring lawyers graduate from an ABA-accredited law school in order to sit for their bar exams, with the Florida justices citing the ABA's former law school diversity and inclusion rule. Read more: American Bar Association suspends law school DEI rule enforcement US Attorney General presses ABA to drop law school DEI rule or risk losing accreditor status
Reuters
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Under Trump pressure, ABA poised to suspend law school DEI rule into 2026
May 6 (Reuters) - The American Bar Association is set to extend the suspension of its law school diversity and inclusion rule through August 2026 as the organization faces mounting pressure from the Trump administration to abandon it diversity efforts. The ABA's Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar on Friday will consider a recommendation, opens new tab to further defer enforcement of its longstanding diversity rule, which was first suspended in February after President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders meant to curtail DEI efforts in the government, the private sector and in higher education. The higher education landscape 'continues to change rapidly,' said Jenn Rosato Perea, the ABA's managing director of accreditation and legal education. 'These changes create extreme hardship for law schools seeking to comply with the law and with the accreditation standards,' she said on Tuesday, adding that the ABA will not evaluate law schools' compliance with the diversity rule while it remains suspended. The ABA has faced added pressure since it suspended the diversity rule, which involves law schools' demonstration of their commitment to diversity in recruitment, admissions and programming. Attorney General Pam Bondi in March warned the ABA that its role as the federally recognized accreditor of U.S. law schools — which it has held since 1952 — could be revoked if it did not repeal the DEI rule and scrap a planned revision of the standard, which she said are unlawful race and sex discrimination. Trump in April signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to assess whether to suspend or terminate the ABA as the government's official law school accreditor, citing its 'unlawful 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' requirements,' as part of an executive order focused on reforming higher education accreditation. The high courts in Texas and Florida have both said in recent weeks that they are reviewing their ABA-graduation requirement, with the Florida justices citing the ABA's former law school diversity and inclusion rule.
