Despite criticism from law school deans across the country, the American Bar Association will meet on February 6 to discuss a proposal that would establish stricter bar passage requirements for school accreditation.

The proposal mandates that 75 percent of an accredited school’s graduates must pass the bar within two years of graduating. But deans have opposed the measure over concerns about California’s declining bar passage rate and diversity within the profession.

More than 90 deans signed a letter from the Association of American Law School’s Dean Steering Committee on January 13, asking for a year to review the proposal before the ABA’s House of Delegates considers it.

That period of time, they wrote, would allow them to understand how the measure might affect a school’s accreditation. In California, where the state bar passage rate has dropped from 56 percent to about 43 percent over the last three years, a handful of schools could lose their accreditations.

The letter notes:

The California bar results, if they become the ‘new normal’ for graduates of ABA-accredited law schools in California, could potentially imperil the accreditation of a very large number of law schools–law schools whose history and profile have demonstrated over many decades an ability to educate successful law students by any reasonable measure.

The letter also included concerns about diversity. More difficult standards could keep minority students–who, on average, score lower on the Law School Admission Test–from being admitted to schools if officials fear they won’t pass the bar.

Most of California’s law school deans, a handful of deans from law schools with connections to historically black universities, and the deans of Harvard and Yale law schools all signed the letter.

At the same time, the ABA risks losing its authority to accredit schools if it does not pay greater attention to student achievement. In June, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity urged the Department of Education to suspend the association’s accreditation power for one year.

The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education voted to adopt the proposal’s requirement changes in October, but the proposal must still pass through the House of Delegates. If they approve the new rule next month, it will apply to graduates taking the bar exam this July, part of a broader Department of Education crackdown on accreditors.

In a January 19 statement, the council’s managing director Barry Currier said, “There is no reason to delay the effectiveness of this new standard,” which he said the council has been discussing and revising for several years. “The fact remains that to become a lawyer in a jurisdiction, a law school graduate must pass that jurisdiction’s bar exam. The standard that the council adopted holds schools to meeting graduates’ expectations in the jurisdictions where the school’s graduates choose to locate,” Currier said.

He added that the council would continue working with state supreme courts, bar examiners, deans, and diversity groups to ensure diversity and fair exams. He also said the new standard “is not at odds with any of those concerns and objectives.”

Victoria Sheridan

Victoria is an editorial intern at Law Street. She is a senior journalism major and French minor at George Washington University. She’s also an editor at GW’s student newspaper, The Hatchet. In her free time, she is either traveling or planning her next trip abroad. Contact Victoria at VSheridan@LawStreetMedia.com.

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At a time when law school enrollment is down across the country, it seems like it would be very difficult to open a new law school; however, the University of California-Irvine wasn’t deterred by this when it opened its own law school in 2009. This month, the University of California, Irvine School of Law received full accreditation from the American Bar Association.

The school has already accomplished much more than simply earning its accreditation. UC Irvine Law’s enrollment has increased every year since its opening, despite the nationwide decrease in demand for law school. The school has also been ranked third in student placement in prestigious judicial clerkships, behind only Yale and Stanford. In addition, the school placed seventh in Scholarly Impact, a rankings system that measures the impact professors have on the law field.

To get perspective on UC Irvine Law’s success, I talked with the Dean of the Law School, Erwin Chemerinsky. As far as seeking accreditation went, Chemerinsky says the standards that needed to be met were made clear and the school was careful to meet all requirements. But Chemerinsky stressed, “Accreditation is the minimum required, we want to go far beyond that in creating an outstanding law school.”

According to Chemerinsky, the goal from the beginning was to be a top law school, and that mentality has driven its success. When asked how UC Irvine Law is growing while so many law schools are losing students, Chemerinsky stressed that the school’s success is due to the outstanding faculty and students they have recruited, adding, “I believe that we have created a very special law school. In part, it is different and special because of our commitment to experiential learning.“

The experimental learning that UC Irvine Law is known for includes an innovative docket of classes, along with a requirement that all students participate in a clinical program. In clinics, students represent clients under faculty supervision.

UC Irvine Law has entered a saturated market and thrived. There are currently more law school seats nationwide than students to fill them, which has led to falling enrollment and some lower prices. Despite this, UC Irvine Law has attracted more students every year. Some industry experts predict it will be a top 20 law school in next year’s US News & World Report rankings. UC Irvine Law’s success presents a possible alternative to lowering prices for struggling law schools. The school has shown that no matter what shape the market is in, if you offer a unique and valuable product, people will buy it. UC Irvine Law offers its  unique product by aggregating great faculty and providing innovative curriculum. In this current law school market, schools must lower prices or offer a better product.  UC Irvine Law shows schools exactly what that superior product should look like.

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Matt DeWilde (@matt_dewilde25) is a member of the American University class of 2016 majoring in politics and considering going to law school. He loves writing about politics, reading, watching Netflix, and long walks on the beach. Contact Matt at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [Mathieu Marquer via Flickr]

Matt DeWilde

Matt DeWilde is a member of the American University class of 2016 majoring in politics and considering going to law school. He loves writing about politics, reading, watching Netflix, and long walks on the beach. Contact Matt at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post UC Irvine Law School Accredited and Thriving appeared first on Law Street.