This session will
examine the ABA Accreditation Standards, including recent revisions, as they
affect clinical legal education and other experiential education, the law
school curriculum more broadly, and the professional environment for faculty. The
ABA Standards Review Committee of the Council of the Section on Legal Education
and Admissions to the Bar completed a five year review of the ABA Standards in
2014, and several new Standards have the potential of affecting law schools’
approaches to clinical legal education, experiential education more broadly,
and the way that law faculty design courses and evaluate student learning.
Former members of the ABA Council of the Section on Legal Education and
Admissions to the Bar (the governing body for accreditation), the ABA
Accreditation Committee (the body that makes recommendations to the Council
concerning each law school’s accreditation), and the Standards Review Committee
(the body that makes recommendation about changes to accreditation standards) will
provide their perspectives on whether and how the revised ABA Standards address
the new normal. Participants will learn both about the content of the revised
ABA Standards, the process that led to the changes, and the process by which
Standards are typically interpreted and applied to law schools.
The principal
Standards that will be focus of this session include: 302- Learning Outcomes;
303-Curriculum, especially 303(a)(3), increasing the experiential course
requirement to 6 credits; 304- Simulation Courses and Law Clinics, the new
definitions; 305- Field Placements, changes such as reducing to 3 or more
credits (down from 4 or more credits) for regular contact between field
placements and the faculty member and for contemporaneous self-reflection; 314-
Assessment of Student Learning, requiring both formative and summative
assessment; 315- Evaluation of Programs of Legal Education, another new
requirement; and Standard 405- security of position and participation in
faculty governance for clinical faculty. The session will also look at what
regional accrediting bodies, such as the New England Association of Schools and
Colleges (NEASC), require of its member institutions when it comes to planning
and evaluation, and how the ABA may look to the experience of such regional
accreditors for guidance in implementing standards dealing with assessment of
student learning and evaluation of the programs of legal education. The session
will draw upon the theme of the “new normal” for legal education by focusing on
how the revised ABA Standards may serve as catalysts for changes in law school
curricula to prepare students better for the practice of law.