New Draft of ABA Standards Is Tougher on Job Placement

The American Bar Association has been engaged in a long process of updating accreditation standards for law schools, and the latest draft features tougher reporting requirements on job placement, The National Law Journal reported. Under the new draft, law schools would disclose the percentage of students whose employment status is unknown after nine months, the percentage in jobs funded by the law school, the percentage in jobs requiring passage of a bar exam and the percentage in non-legal jobs. The inclusion of those changes reflects criticisms of current, minimalist reporting requirements that critics say hide the extent of unemployment of law school graduates. The new draft also maintains controversial provisions from earlier versions that would eliminate requirements that law schools have tenure systems and use the LSAT in admissions.