It’s widely accepted that students won’t learn how to be lawyers just by virtue of going to law school, but the American Bar Association (ABA) is now cracking down on law schools to make sure students learn from their classes, period.
As noted by Reuters, the ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar recently adopted changes to its student learning outcomes accreditation standard that will not only bring some uniformity to required classes but will also set “minimum learning outcomes” for all classes. Here are some additional details:
The adopted changes also mandate all first-year classes include one early assessment that gives students feedback on their performance prior to a final exam. Academic support must be made available to any students “who fail to attain a satisfactory level of achievement.”
Outside of “extraordinary circumstances,” 80% of each first-year law student’s teachers must now be full-time faculty members, which ensures new students don’t primarily have adjunct instructors.
More help for students who may be struggling, and a way for students to figure out they need more academic assistance before the final exam? What’s not to like about this?
Law school deans, of course, seem to be against these new academic standards, with more than a third of them (76 in all) opposing the changes, claiming that the new requirements “could harm legal education.”
The ABA House of Delegates must approve the Council’s proposed changes at its next meeting in February. If the changes go through, the new learning outcomes standards for students will begin in 2026.
Law school courses to become more uniform under new ABA accreditation rule [Reuters]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
