ABA Rejects Proposal to Toughen Accreditation

The American Bar Association House of Delegates on Monday rejected a proposal to require all law schools it accredits to have 75 percent of their students who sit for bar exams pass them within two years of graduation. The measure will now be returned to a committee for further review -- and could come back at a later time for consideration again. The ABA has been under pressure, with a worsening post-law school employment market and high levels of student debt, to assure that more law school graduates can find employment. The measure was questioned by many law deans from California, where bar passage rates have dropped, and from advocates for law schools that serve large minority populations. Here is a letter from law deans opposing the measure.

The measure was rejected on a voice vote that an ABA announcement called "overwhelmingly opposed."