ABA Council Votes to Reject Proposed Change in Full-Time Faculty Standard

 
The Council for the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, at its meeting on November 3 in Boston, Massachusetts, voted to reject a proposal from the ABA Standards Review Committee to revise Standard 403(a). The proposal would have permitted all law school instruction after the first year to be provided by part-time faculty.
 
In August, the AALS submitted a formal comment to the ABA urging the rejection of the proposed changes. The association emphasized that full-time faculty are essential to providing quality professional legal education, and while part-time teachers enrich the law school experience, they cannot substitute for the focus of full-time faulty on teaching, availability to students, curriculum design and assessment, scholarship, and sustained engagement for educating professionals for the multiple roles they will play as lawyers and leaders.
 
AALS also warned that the proposed change would weaken the significance of ABA accreditation overall and its role in maintaining standards of quality in legal education.
 
More information on the meeting and other proposed standard changes related to admission tests, bar passage rates and online courses can be found on the ABA Section’s website.