The American Bar Association's Council of the Section on Legal Education is moving forward with a new standard that would require twelve credits of experiential learning for graduation. An earlier version of this proposal was already widely opposed by law school deans. But the ABA only made small modifications to the program. There will now be a forty-five day comment period. But we can see the writing on the wall.
There are many problems with the ABA's approach to accreditation. But perhaps the biggest problem is that the Council adopts standards without any proof these standards will accomplish their stated goal. The ABA demands that law schools demonstrate that they are satisfying certain objectives, but the ABA never imposes such mandates internally.
Dan Rodriguez of Northwestern stated, correctly, that there is no evidence showing these reforms will be effective:
