Proposal to allow academic credit for paid externships moves forward in ABA
A proposed change to law school accreditation standards eliminating the current ban on students receiving academic credit for paid externships has been approved for notice and comment by the governing council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.
Under the proposal, a law school could decide for itself whether a student should receive academic credit for a paid externship or field placement—but only if the school can demonstrate that it has maintained enough control over the student experience to ensure that the requirements of the standards are being met.
The council, which met Friday and Saturday in Minneapolis, also approved for notice and comment two alternative proposed changes to the current rule allowing most law schools to fill up to 10 percent of their entering class with students who haven’t taken the Law School Admission Test. One of the proposals would do away with the rule altogether. The other would make it applicable to all schools.
A public hearing on the three proposals, which had been recommended to the council by the section’s Standards Review Committee, will be held July 16 at the ABA’s headquarters in Chicago. They will come back to the council for final consideration at its next meeting, which is July 31-Aug. 1 in Chicago.
If the council approves the proposed changes, they will be reviewed by the House of Delegates at this year’s ABA Annual Meeting, which starts July 31 in Chicago. The House can either concur with a proposed change or refer it back to the council for reconsideration, with a statement setting forth its reasons for the referral. But it can only do so twice, and the council has the final word on any changes in the standards.
