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17 Syllabus 1 (1986)

handle is hein.journals/syllabus17 and id is 1 raw text is: ABA Summer Programs Abroad By Katleen S. Grove How Evaluation An Inspector's Process Works Observations in NGreece, Israel Do We Need The Bar Exam? YES-- MAYBE NOT- Exam Serves as Diploma Privilege Useful Check Works (in Wisconsin) By Arthur B. LaFrance A.thur B. LaFranoe t a time when hostility to lawyers runs high, when conventional wisdom is unanimous that there are too many lawyers, when the consumers of higher education are staying away from law schools in droves, it seems strange that legislatures should be considering a bill that would make it easier to create yet more lawyers. It is stranger still that the device for expanding numbers would be eliminating the bar exam, the only protection the public has to assure quality in the legal services and legal education. Perhaps it is the controversial nature of the exam which prompts abolition. Everyone, including this author, agrees there is ample room for improvement. Perhaps the impetus comes from those who have taken the examination and remember the experience with bitterness and pain. It is a harrowing experience, to be sure. The critics of the bar examination chiefly focus on its failure as a screening device. Most people will pass. Only a few fail. Why should the vast majority have to undergo the slings and arrows of outrageous examinations? The answers lie in the questions themselves. The examination does, in fact, screen out a significant number and that number can be expected to increase, as is now the experience in Continued -n page 8 By Walter B. Raushenbush Walter B. Raushenbush come to praise the diploma privilege, not to bury it. It is alive and well, if only in darkest Wisconsin. In defending it, I confess two limitations: I have seen it work only in Wisconsin, and-thanks to it!--I have never taken a bar exam. Graduates of the law schools at the University of Wisconsin and Marquette, if eligible in all other respects, are admitted to practice without taking the Wisconsin bar examination. For 35 years, I have observed the effects of this situation, first as law student, then as practicing lawyer, then for many years as law teacher. There are two principal effects, indirect to be sure, but both beneficial: (1) We law faculty are under no pressure to teach our courses as bar reviews. As elsewhere, many of our students press us to teach what may be useful in law practice, but we are free to respond in various ways far different from bar cramming. (2) The diploma privilege reminds us that we are not free to leave screening to the bar. We recognize reasonable, but rather special, obligations to admit only those of promise; to eliminate the few who clearly cannot perform satisfactorily; and to offer a curriculum which can prepare our students for a broad variety of law practice activity. Continued on Page 8 R M ', Kathleen S. Grme Over a dozen ABA site evaluators spanned the globe in the summer of 1985 as they visited 38 ABA- approved summer programs in 15 countries ranging from China to Israel. The site visits are part of a three- year study conducted on behalf of the ABA Accreditation Committee by the committee of the foreign summer programs. In 1984 the committee adopted interim criteria for review of the programs, drafted a detailed questionnaire to be completed by schools involved, and scheduled on- site visits to conclude in the summer of 1986. It then will study the results of the visits and adopt final criteria and procedures for ABA approval of foreign programs. The Accreditation Committee and the Consultant's office have reviewed these programs since 1980 pursuant to a 1979 Council determination that they come within the purview of the Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools. Schools must submit an annual report on these programs to the Accreditation Committee. In 1984, the Accreditation Committee, concerned about the proliferation of foreign programs and consumer protection issues involved for law students, appointed this subcommittee to study the current review procedures: Associate Dean Wayne McCormack, University of Utah, chair; Associate Dean Jack P. Etheridge, Emory University; R. W. Nahstoll, Esq., Portland, Oregon; and Associate Dean John Ryan, McGeorge School of Law. This committee was staffed by Kathleen S. Grove, Assistant to the Consultant. The subcommittee drafted a detailed questionnaire to be completed by schools involved, recommended an initial round of on- site visits be conducted, and prepared interim criteria to be applied during the period of the site visits. These suggestions were adopted by the Accreditation Committee and the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The ABA Accreditation Committee's interest in reviewing foreign programs has been reiterated Continued on page 2 Ameraican law student talking with Israeli soldier in Nablus. When I was a law student, I always dreamed of spending a summer studying law abroad. I would take every opportunity to read the foreign summer study posters tacked to the law school bulletin board. Since I never did accomplish this goal, I eagerly accepted the opportunity to be a site evaluator for the American Bar Association. My assignment was to evaluate the Temple University School of Law summer programs in Athens and Tel Aviv and the Tulane University Law School's program in Jerusalem. When I read the headlines about the hijacking out of Athens of TWA's flight 547 (on which I was booked for a later date), I was not only concerned about the safety of those passengers but also chagrined that this might affect my travel plans. Luckily, I was able to proceed as planned. However, these events underlined for me what an illusion we Americans hold assuming that the conflicts and concerns of the rest of the world are not our problems. This thought frequently surfaced as I saw how the actions and policies of our government directly affected the lives of the people in Greece and Israel. Even more striking to me was the interdependency and connections between the individual citizens in these countries and many Americans. This evidenced itself the minute I boarded the Athens-bound plane, which was only half full due to President Reagan's statements about the safety of travel to Greece. Most of the passengers appeared to be of Greek ancestry. One woman I spoke with was taking her young daughter for an annual visit to her mother, who still lived in Athens. Most of the passengers made the sign of the cross and prayed silently as the huge jet took off from the Continued on page 2

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