NBA Urges ABA Council to Maintain Current Bar Passage Accreditation Standard for Law Schools: Supports Preserving Law School Access

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the National Bar Association (National Bar) expressed support for a preliminary decision by the American Bar Association (ABA) Standards Review Committee to maintain the current bar pass accreditation standard and called on the ABA Council to undertake a study on ultimate bar pass rates.  On February 7-8, 2014, the ABA Standards Review Committee abandoned a new accreditation proposal on bar passage after agreeing that the Committee lacked data on pass rate trends in state jurisdictions and had inadequate time for implementation.

“The ABA Standards Review Committee has recognized the need for data on ultimate bar pass rates,” said National Bar President, Patricia Rosier.  “As the full ABA Council considers this proposal in March, we hope they will recognize the potentially devastating effect on law school access avoided last week when the ABA Standards Review Committee decided to maintain the current bar passage accreditation standard. The National Bar has steadfastly argued that the ABA Standards Review Committee must carefully consider ultimate bar pass rates before acting,” said Rosier.

The ABA Standards Review Committee voted to maintain the current standard after a coalition of bar associations of color, law teachers, clinicians, members of Congress, and the National Black Law Students Association drew attention to the absence of any analysis of discriminatory effects on law schools that enroll a diverse student population, including historically black colleges and universities, and national law schools.

Members of the coalition argued the proposal would create an incentive for law schools to admit only students with high law school admission test scores, and disadvantage students with low scores but other strong admission factors.

The proposal will advance to the ABA Council on March 14-15, 2014, which will determine whether to accept the Committee’s recommendation to maintain the current standard.