Does the American Bar Association Have a Monopoly on Law School Accreditation?

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED

For decades, the American Bar Association has served as the primary accreditor of U.S. law schools. Because most states require graduation from an ABA-accredited institution to sit for the bar exam, does the ABA effectively control the gateway for who enters the legal profession? What level of control over accreditation crosses the antitrust line?

Do recent actions by the American Bar Association — such as “urg[ing] all bar associations and the legal community as a whole to support implementation of the [Equal Rights Amendment],” after the ABA’s widely criticized Resolution 601 about the ERA’s purported ratification as the 28th Amendment — call into question the ABA’s neutrality and fitness to decide which law schools are qualified to teach the Constitution to aspiring lawyers? Why have some government agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, prohibited political appointees from participating in the ABA? Why are states such as Texas and Florida reducing reliance on the ABA for accreditation in their states?

Join us for a lively lunch discussion about these and other questions about the ABA’s law school accreditation role.

Attendees will receive a complimentary Semiquincentennial Edition of the Federalist Society’s pocket Constitution — which includes the text of the Declaration of Independence, the text of the U.S. Constitution, and the text of the Amendments–all 27 of them.

Featuring:

Introduction Gene Hamilton, President & Co-Founder, America First Legal Foundation

Andrew Ferguson, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission

Brent Webster, First Assistant Attorney General of Texas

David Dewhirst, Solicitor General for the State of Florida

This page will be updated as other guest speakers are added

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.