American Bar Association
Section of Legal Education and Admissions
to the Bar
Revised Standards for Approval of Law
Schools August 2014
Chapter 3 –
PROGRAM OF LEGAL EDUCATION
Standard 301.
OBJECTIVES OF PROGRAM OF LEGAL EDUCATION
(a)A law
school shall maintain a rigorous program of legal education that prepares its
students, upon graduation, for admission to the bar and for effective, ethical, and responsible participation as members of the
legal profession.
(b)A law
school shall establish and publish learning outcomes designed to achieve these
objectives.
Standard 302.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
A law school shall establish learning outcomes that
shall, at a minimum, include competency in the following:
(a)Knowledge
and understanding of substantive and procedural law;
(b)Legal
analysis and reasoning, legal research, problem-solving, and written and oral
communication in the legal context;
(c)Exercise of proper professional and ethical
responsibilities to clients and the legal system; and
(d)Other
professional skills needed for competent and ethical participation as a member
of the legal profession.
Interpretation
302-1
For the purposes of
Standard 302(d), other professional skills are determined by the law school and
may include skills such as, interviewing, counseling, negotiation, fact
development and analysis, trial practice, document drafting, conflict
resolution, organization and management of legal work, collaboration, cultural
competency, and self-evaluation.
Standard 303.
CURRICULUM
(a)A law
school shall offer a curriculum that requires each student to satisfactorily
complete at least the following:
(1)one course of at least two credit hours in
professional responsibility that includes substantial instruction in the
history, goals, structure, values, and responsibilities of the legal profession
and its members;
(i)integrate
doctrine, theory, skills, and legal ethics, and engage students in performance
of one or more of the professional skills identified in Standard 302;
(ii)develop the concepts underlying the
professional skills being taught;
(iii)provide multiple opportunities for
performance; and
(iv)provide opportunities for
self-evaluation.
(b)A law
school shall provide substantial opportunities to students for:
(1)law clinics or field placement(s);
and
(2)student participation in pro bono
legal services, including law-related public service activities.
A law school shall utilize both formative and summative
assessment methods in its curriculum to measure and improve student learning
and provide meaningful feedback to students. Formative assessment methods are
measurements at different points during a particular course or at different
points over the span of a student's education that provide meaningful feedback
to improve student learning. Summative assessment methods are measurements at
the culmination of a particular course or at the culmination of any part of a
student's legal education that measure the degree of student learning.
Standard 315.
EVALUATION OF PROGRAM OF LEGAL EDUCATION, LEARNING OUTCOMES, AND ASSESSMENT
METHODS
The dean and the faculty of a law school shall conduct
ongoing evaluation of the law school's program of legal education, learning
outcomes, and assessment methods; and shall use the results of this evaluation
to determine the degree of student attainment of competency in the learning
outcomes and to make appropriate changes to improve the curriculum.