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1981 Newsl. 1 (1981)

handle is hein.aals/aalsnews1981 and id is 1 raw text is: ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN LAW SCHOOLS 0 ONE DUPONT CIRCLE 0 WASHINGTNZ JpO6469.81-1 MAR., 1981 President's Message In my last newsletter I stressed the importance of the AALS and law schools taking seriously some of the conditions that give rise to proposals concerning law school programs of instruction. In that message, and also in my presidential address in San Antonio, I stressed that the Association of American Law Schools has contribu- tions to make that are distinctive from the ABA or any other association or group. Precisely because it does not perform a direct licensing function tied to requirements for admission to the bar, the Association can freely and easily convene workshops, conferences and other meetings, which will assist member schools in improving perfor- mance of existing activities, and consider whether to take on new and additional programs. Workshops have recently been convened or are planned in such traditional subjects as civil procedure, taxation and contracts. Conferences may focus on the purposes of graduate legal education or of non-degree programs for experienced lawyers. These activities become means by which law schools support one another. Professors and administrators who have devel- oped new ideas and strong programs are given the oppor- tunity to educate and assist their peers in other schools. The Association makes another contribution to legal education, a most important one, through its insistence on standards of quality as a condition of membership. These standards are enforced by periodic inspections now carried on simultaneously with the ABA, and by independent reviews by the Association's Accreditation and Executive Committees. This activity has been going on for so long and is carried on so regularly that we may tend to overlook it. To do so would be a serious mistake. Recently, the Association had dealings with COPA (Council on Postsecondary Accreditation) which suggest issues more important than may appear on the surface. COPA is a private organization that oversees accreditation in higher education. In reviewing the accreditation func- tion of AALS, a committee of COPA raised a number of issues. Did the AALS accreditation procedure afford each aggrieved school a sufficient right of appeal? Did it provide for lay representation at some point in the process? In light DITOR: JANE M. LA BARBERA, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR of the accreditation activities of the ABA Section on Legal Education, should AALS also be recognized as an accred- iting agency, i.e. should COPA recognize two accrediting agencies in the same field, when one might be thought to be more efficient administratively? The questions of procedures and representation are not major. In fact, the Association has recently changed its processes so that rights of appeal by aggrieved schools are wholly protected. Moreover, some lay representation might be introduced into the accrediting process in order to guard against unduly narrow perspectives of the experts. However, the suggestion that there be only one accrediting body in the law school field raises issues of larger dimen- sion. Over many decades, the ABA and the AALS have both accredited law schools, each for its own purposes. A look at the record suggests that their standards are not far apart, probably because each organization has had some impact on the other. The AALS appears to have estab- lished somewhat higher standards of scholarship than has the ABA, though without neglecting the importance of professional education. There would be a substantial loss if the Association were suddenly to discontinue its accredi- tation function. It seems to me quite unlikely that it would agree to do so. It had been suggested that the AALS is a membership organization rather than an accrediting organization. If one viewed accreditation as limited to recognition for govern- mental purposes - i.e., licensing - then the point might seem well taken. But the AALS has from the outset viewed membership as more than a private convenience for its members; it has represented to the public that member- ship in the Association is an assurance of quality. This is a very important mode of accreditation, one that we should not lightly abandon. Albert M. Sacks President EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: JOHN A. BAUMAN Pinting and Distribution Courtesy of Foundation Pess, Inc. Ip

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