Barry Currier To Step Down; Search Begins For New Managing Director Of ABA Legal Ed Section

Barry Currier, Managing Director of Accreditation and Legal Education for the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, is stepping down at the end of the 2019-20 year after eight years in the position:

The regular work of the Council in recent years has been driven by the impact of the recession on legal education and profound changes in both the legal profession and higher education sectors. The changes continue. Indeed, we are closer to the beginning, not the end, of the change cycle. We might prefer to catch our breath, digest what has been done, and assess next steps; but the need for change persists and there is no time to waste – we will be multi-tasking for the foreseeable future.

Among the big picture, long-term matters to be tackled is how the ABA law school accreditation process can be improved to better assure, indeed advance, the quality of the education that law schools deliver to their students while, at the same time, broadening access to legal education and taking steps to assure that we are producing graduates who will help build a more inclusive, fair, and just legal system. The process must intentionally shift its focus to more clearly place students, the quality of learning, and meaningful access as the core of what we do and how we do it.

Search for Next Managing Director of Accreditation and Legal Education Begins:

A Search Committee, chaired by Jeff Lewis, will oversee the process, with the Council being central to the process. A search firm will be selected to assist with the search. The Committee will hold its first meeting in Chicago at the end of the month with a goal of selecting candidates for the position by January 2020 and a final candidate by February. 

Search Committee Roster
Dean David Brennen
University of Kentucky School of Law

Sarah Correll
Practitioner in Indianapolis

Honorable Matthew B. Durant
Chief Justice, Utah Supreme Court

Dean Kevin R. Johnson
U.C. Davis School of Law

Dean Emeritus and Professor Jeffrey E. Lewis
Saint Louis University School of Law

Honorable Solomon Oliver, Jr.
Judge, U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

Dean Emerita and Professor Maureen A. O'Rourke
Boston University School of Law

Suzanne K. Richards
Practitioner in Columbus and Member of NCBE Board of Trustees

Jarisse Sanborn
ABA General Counsel

Daniel Thies
Practitioner in Illinois

Honorable Phyllis D. Thompson
Judge, D.C. Court of Appeals