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ABA Legal Education Section Publishes Proposed Interpretation
of Bar Passage Standard for Approval of Law Schools

CHICAGO, June 19, 2007 — The American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar today published a proposed interpretation of ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools defining how law schools must comply with a requirement that they prepare graduates to pass the bar examination. 

The section issued the proposed interpretation for notice and comment, and will present a final recommendation to the ABA House of Delegates when it convenes in August in San Francisco.  If the House concurs, the section will apply the policy as it conducts regular reviews of approved law schools every seven years, and as it considers requests by provisionally approved schools for full approval.  Provisional approval is the first stage of accreditation of any new law school.

Standard 301 of ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools states “a law school shall maintain an educational program that prepares its students for admission to the bar, and effective and responsible participation in the legal profession.”  As an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has decided to define that standard through an explanatory interpretation, both to provide more guidance to its approved schools and to insure compliance with DOE regulations.

“The Section of Legal Education is committed to consumer protection among its primary responsibilities in accrediting law schools, and that commitment includes a strong belief that law schools should be preparing their students to pass the bar exam and become contributing, responsible members of the profession,” said William Rakes, chair of the section.

“But the bar examination is not a uniform national testing experience, and there is wide variation among the states in how they apply test scores.  Additionally, schools define their missions differently, with some, for example, seeking to reach out to communities that are underrepresented in the profession, or underserved by the bar, to prepare students to fill those needs, while other schools may focus on research, practical skills or other missions.  An interpretation that provides meaningful measurement of how well all schools prepare their graduates for professional practice must reflect those realities.”

While portions of the bar examination are uniform among nearly all states, other portions are state specific.  States have their own grading practices, and set their own passing scores.  Rakes said the proposed interpretation attempts to provide clear guidance but not impose a rigid national measure on what is essentially a state process.

For established schools undergoing periodic review, the proposed interpretation offers two alternatives to satisfy the standard. 

Under the first option, a school would have to show that in three or more of the most recent five years, in the jurisdiction in which the largest proportion of the school’s graduates take the bar exam for the first time, they pass the exam above, at or no more than 10 points below the first-time bar passage rates for graduates of ABA-approved law schools taking the bar examination in that jurisdiction during the relevant year.  For schools from which more than 20 percent of graduates take their first bar examination in a jurisdiction other than the primary one, the schools also would be required to demonstrate that at least 70 percent of those students passed their bar examination over the two most recent bar exams.

Schools unable to satisfy the first alternative still could comply by demonstrating that 80 percent of all their graduates who take a bar examination anywhere in the country pass a bar examination within three sittings of the exam within three years of graduation.

For provisionally approved schools, the interpretation would look at passing rates for first time takers in the primary jurisdiction in only two of the three most recent bar examinations, and the two most recent testings of first time takers in jurisdictions other than the primary jurisdiction.  The second alternative also would be available to provisionally approved schools.

The proposed interpretation can be accessed on the section’s Web site, at http://www.abanet.org/legaled/standards/Proposed%20Standards%20Commentary/Prop%20New%20Int%20301-6_June192007.pdf.

With more than 413,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.

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