ABA Responds (Again) to Sen. Grassley on Law School Accreditation

ABA Press Release, ABA Responds to U.S. Senator Charles Grassley Regarding Legal Education Issues:

The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has responded to an Aug. 8 letter from U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) requesting information about law school accreditation and student lending.  The section’s detailed response, including an offer to meet with the senator at his convenience, is accompanied by a letter from ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III.

The response addresses Sen. Grassley’s questions on the issues of law student loan default rates, scholarship retention and employment in the legal job market.

Regarding student loan default rates, the response notes that current ABA accreditation standards require law schools to “take reasonable steps to minimize student loan defaults, including provision of debt counseling at the inception of a student’s loan obligations and prior to graduation.”

The section will be considering in the near future a recommendation that law schools be required to publish scholarship retention rates.

With regard to the legal job market, the section describes current accreditation standards that take job placement information into account as a key measure of a law school’s educational program, and also require that law schools provide career counseling services.  Recently implemented changes to the section’s annual questionnaire ask law schools for more detailed reporting of employment data, including types of employment, whether employment is long-term or short-term, whether the position is funded by the law school or associated university, and other additional data points.

Additional coverage:

• ABA Journal, Law Schools Would Have to Disclose Scholarship Retention Rates Online Under ABA Section Proposal
• Law Librarian Blog, The ABA's Latest Response To Senator Grassley
• Los Angeles Examiner, ABA Responds to Senator Grassley on Legal Education Issues
• National Law Journal, In Letter to Senator, ABA Insists It's Serious About Law School Oversight
• WSJ Law Blog, ABA Proposes Closer Scrutiny of Law School Scholarship Data

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Sen. Grassley Gives ABA Two Weeks to Address Law School Accreditation (July 13, 2011)
• ABA Responds to Sen. Grassley's Concerns About Law School Accreditation (July 21, 2011)
• Sen. Grassley Is Unhappy With ABA's Response to Accreditation Concerns (Aug. 12, 2011)