A group of 26 law school deans are pushing back against a proposal from the American Bar Association to accredit fully online law schools, the ABA Journal reported.
The deans said they want more information about bar passage and employment rates before the proposal moves forward, while supporters of the proposal said it would expand access to and reduce the price of legal education.
Fully online law degree programs can currently only become accredited if the law school also has a brick-and-mortar location. Graduates from online-only law schools are not permitted to take the bar exam.
“The council has not, as far as we know, articulated a rationale for departing from this practice,” said a public comment letter signed by the deans of more than two dozen law schools, including the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, the University of Oregon School of Law and the University of Idaho College of Law.
“Beyond bar passage, we also currently have no way to measure whether hybrid and online J.D. programs are as successful as their traditional counterparts in preparing students for practice,” the letter said. “This is problematic given the current discussion among thought leaders about whether traditional law schools are doing enough to train practice ready attorneys.”
Alberto Gonzales, the dean of the Belmont University College of Law, agreed, stating in his comments, “The proposed move to fully online law degrees would result in lesser educational outcomes for law student.”
The Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar also opposed the proposal, but the State Bar of Montana and the Indiana Supreme Court wrote in favor of the ABA’s amendment.
Supporters of the proposal, including faculty from Purdue Global Law School (PGLS), said it would expand access to legal education.
In February, the Indiana Supreme Court gave its blessing to allow graduates of schools not accredited by the ABA to request a waiver to take the bar exam, following California’s early move. The move aimed to address the shortage of attorneys in Indiana.
“Prior to joining PGLS, I taught at an ABA-approved fixed-facility law school full-time for 10 years and I was a judicial law clerk for a federal magistrate judge for six years,” Kelley Mauerman, associate dean of experiential learning at PGLS, said in a public comment letter. “I can say from experience that the online legal education at PGLS compares favorably with the education offered at my former ABA-approved law school.”
The ABA’s council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar solicited public comment on the proposal between January and March and is in the process of reviewing submissions.
The council’s next meeting is scheduled for May. It’s not clear when a final decision on the proposal will be made.
