Alabama cuts ABA Legal Ed council from bar licensure process
The Alabama Supreme Court recently voted to change its rules for admissions to the bar that downgrades the involvement of the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, following moves in recent months by Florida and Texas to pull away from the national law school accreditor.
The Alabama order, issued April 30, scratched the need to eliminate graduation from an ABA-accredited law school to take the state’s bar exam. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, graduates of the state’s five law schools—three that are ABA accredited and two that are not—can take the state bar exam, as well as graduates of out-of-state law schools, as long as they qualify to do so in their home jurisdictions.
This differs by the moves by the Florida Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court, which killed their reliance on accreditation of law schools by the ABA council, a separate and independent entity from the bar association that is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the sole accrediting body for law schools. Both states created their own lists of approved law schools that continue to recognize ABA-approved law schools.
In Alabama, according to the Law School Docket blog, graduates must have completed a three-year program, potentially eliminating those who attended accelerated programs, and meet all the requirements of the state of the law school, such as taking the “baby bar” for graduates of unaccredited California law schools.
On April 30, the Federal Trade Commission wrote to the Tennessee Supreme Court to also open its law school accreditation to competition. It echoes the sentiments of a letter that the FTC recently sent to the Texas Supreme Court.
Like Tennessee, the Ohio Supreme Court is currently reevaluating ABA accreditation.
“A national accreditor is in the best interests of law students, law schools, states and the profession,” said Daniel Thies, the chair of the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, in a statement. “Council accreditation continues to be the gold standard in legal education, as it ensures that accredited law schools have a quality program of legal education capable of qualifying students for admission to the bar and, ultimately, producing competent, ethical lawyers to serve the public’s legal needs.”
The states’ moves follow the Trump administration’s April 2025 executive order aimed at higher education accreditors—specifically referencing the council—that mandates the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts or risk federal funding cuts.
After that, the council suspended Standard 206 until Aug. 31, 2026, and discussed entirely eliminating the standard as it launched a comprehensive review of its standards at its quarterly meeting in November. Taking action on the DEI-related standard is on the council’s meeting agenda for May 15.
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