Texas is now the first state in the U.S. to eliminate American Bar Association oversight of its law schools, ending the state's 42-year-long reliance on the national organization.
The Texas Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday finalizing a tentative September opinion, asserting the ABA should "no longer have the final say" on which law school graduates can take the bar exam — a requirement to becoming a licensed lawyer in each state.
"The Court advised that it intends to provide stability, certainty, and flexibility to currently approved law schools by guaranteeing ongoing approval to schools that satisfy a set of simple, objective, and ideologically neutral criteria using metrics no more onerous than those currently required by the ABA," reads the order signed by all nine justices.
The change means law school graduates who want to practice in Texas are no longer required to attend an ABA-accredited school. The power to approve those law schools now rests solely with the state's highest civil court.
In the absence of national guidance, however, the Texas Supreme Court stipulated in Tuesday's order that it intends to preserve graduates' ability to use Texas law school degrees in other states and out-of-state law degrees in Texas. The court also doesn't anticipate immediate changes to the current list of approved law schools and could return to relying on a different multi-state accrediting entity in the future.
The ABA, a voluntary professional association for lawyers, has accredited law schools across the country since 1923. That means schools must comply with the ABA's standards for its faculty, curriculum and facilities, provide adequate resources for student support, demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion and have successful bar passage rates among graduates. Not all law schools are ABA-approved.
The Texas Supreme Court decided which law schools would satisfy law licensure requirements until 1983, when the court gave that responsibility to the ABA.
The high court first signaled it wanted to cut ties with the ABA in April and invited comments from the Texas Board of Law Examiners, Texas law school deans, the State Bar and the public. The court tentatively decided in September to do away with ABA accreditation, and the public comment period for that decision Dec. 1.
The all-Republican court hasn't given a reason for initiating the change, but it came after months of conflict between President Donald Trump, the ABA and the broader legal community.
Michael Minasi / KUT News The Supreme Court of the State of Texas is pictured on Dec. 18, 2024, in Austin.
... continue reading