Florida's move to end ABA council as state's sole law school accreditor applauded by FTC
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday sent a 14-page letter to the Florida Supreme Court to “applaud the amendment” that would end the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar’s status as the state’s sole law school accreditor.
The letter follows a Jan. 15 order by the state supreme court that kills the rule requiring students to graduate from an ABA-accredited law school before taking the bar exam and opening the door to other law school accreditors.
Most states require applicants to the state bar to be graduates of an ABA-accredited law school, which aids in portability of law licenses. Florida’s order does not prohibit law schools from seeking ABA accreditation.
“An accreditor recognized by all states—which allows portability of law degrees—is in the best interests of law students, law schools, states and the profession,” wrote Daniel Theis, the chair of the council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, to the ABA Journal. “The council has been recognized as this accreditor because it is committed to ensuring that lawyers receive a quality legal education, so they can competently and ethically serve their clients and the public. The consistent quality of council-accredited schools and student outcomes is a testament to that commitment.”
The council, a separate and independent entity from the ABA, is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the sole accrediting body for domestic law schools and has served as Florida’s sole accreditor since 1992, according to Courthouse News Service. Florida tested the fourth-largest number of bar candidates for the July 2025 bar exam, with 2,717 examinees, according to statistics from the National Conference of Bar Examiners.
The FTC’s letter, signed by Brendan Chestnut, the director of the FTC’s policy planning office, and Daniel Guarnera, the director of the FTC’s competition bureau, states that it is “not in Floridians’ best interest for the ABA to be the sole gatekeeper,” and that the council is “dominated by law school faculty and administrators with strong incentives to thwart lower-cost alternatives for legal education.”
“We encourage other states to take similar steps,” they wrote.
The letter’s tone and content echoes a nine-page letter dated Dec. 1 from the FTC to the Texas Supreme Court endorsing its January decision to end of the section’s “monopoly” as the country’s sole law school accreditor, making it the first state to formally break away from the council. Florida followed Texas’ move shortly after.
Other state supreme courts, including Tennessee and Ohio, currently are reevaluating ABA accreditation.
Those moves come after the Trump administration’s April 2025 executive order aimed at higher education accreditors—specifically referencing the council—mandating the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts or risk federal funding cuts.
In February, the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators formed a workgroup to dig into accreditation, including the role of the council.
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