One for nosbourne: ABA v. State Accred. v. For Profits

Aba admits its violation 1996 Anti-Trust judgement. See below:
www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/June/06_at_390.html

 

Yes, I saw this. The ABA, for which I have no affection but of which I am a member, did something to violated the anti-trust decree.

I read the original decree some time ago and don't recall the exact terms. I don't THINK that the decree required any ABA school to accept credits or recognize degrees from any unaccredited or correspondence law school. IIRC, it DID require the ABA to delete its across-the-board ban on admitting graduates of state-accredited law schools to LL.M. programs at ABA approved schools. Individual ABA approved schools could therefore adopt their own policies on this issue.

I don't recall any other provisions that would directly affect holders of non ABA J.D. degrees.

 

Here is a link to the decree itself. It is a little broader than I remembered:

www.gamingip.com/Cases/FullText/CF-USvABA.html

 

I expect that since the fine comes from our annual dues, the leadership of the ABA really doesn't care.

 

Irritating, isn't it?

I hate the ABA; have hated the ABA for years, but it's the only organization with national political clout that seems to be standing up for equality before the law and the rule of law. The Unholy Alliance is stacking the economic deck in favor of the wealthy and powerful while imposing radical christianization on our secular society. I contribute to the ACLU, of course, but the ACLU fights in the Courts. The ABA fights to keep those Courts open and unbiased, something the ACLU cannot do.

But I still hate the ABA...

 

Let me just say that after the consent decree and the doors opened to non-ABA J.D. graduates to attend ABA law schools
for the LL.M degree, the ABA discovered that a large number of states had either a loophole which would allow for a graduate of an ABA law school to be admitted to the bar exam either by:

rules that said an applicant must be a graduate of an ABA law school but did not specially state the J.D. degree and thus persons with an ABA LL.M were allowed in.

rules that provided for either a ABA J.D. or an ABA LL.M degree
presumably to allow those foreign graduates to get the general Master of Laws and then take the bar exam.

Sadly I must report that the ABA was so upset at the consent decree and their lack of control of bar admissions that they politically pressured, Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire and several others that I cant remember off of the top of my head to eliminate any possible LL.M route to bar admission, such did not affect me as I was deemed qualified to take the bar in these states per the bar examining committees in writing since my ABA LL.M degree was issue before the cut-date and new regulations took affect.

 

But it distrubs me greatly that the ABA went to such lengths to find another avenue in which to eliminate the possibility of a non ABA J.D. graduate who is lucky enough to be accepted to an ABA LL.M degree program to have the door close on him or her for bar admissions.

The more lenient State Bar Committees in some of these states were very very weak and gave in to ABA pressure.

I would like the Justice Department to take it a step further
and compel the ABA to inform all States that accreditation is voluntary and before reviewing the accreditation status of any
more schools in each state that the ABA be required to have each member of the Bar Committee sign an acknowledgement form that they are aware of states rights and that the ABA accreditation process in no way means States CAN NOT adopt rules that allow non ABA graduates to sit for the bar exam.

Let the states decide that if the school is regionally accredited and meets the course requirments and number of years required for law study, that upon graduation from any State Bar or any regionally accredited law school such graduate is qualified to take the state bar exam anywhere in the U.S.

I have no problem with the ABA having voluntary accreditation standards but they SHOULD NOT be able to control admission to the bar this is teetering on RICO and restraint of trade and get involved in states rights to establish their own law schools and bar admission standards

 

ABA on consent decree

Here's the latest from the ABA on the consent decree.

http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/jy7abafine.html

"In 18 states, only graduates of ABA-accredited law schools are allowed to take the bar exam, although many of the jurisdictions require graduates of schools without ABA accreditation to have practice experience in other states. (At the time the 1996 consent decree went into effect, more than 40 states restricted their bar exams to graduates of ABA-accredited law schools.)"