Last week, two law schools — the Western New England University School of Law and the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law — received a public notice of noncompliance with the American Bar Association’s accreditation standards. Though the two law schools are on the hook for different accreditation standards, the deans of each school spoke with ABA Journal about the issue.
Western New England Law’s notice stated they were in potential non-compliance with Standards 202(a) and (d) which deal with the law school’s current and anticipated financial resources and if the school’s anticipated financial condition is “reasonably expected” to have a negative impact on meeting accreditation standards, respectively. As Dean Sudha N. Setty told the ABA Journal, the incoming class at Western New England is larger than it was in 2018, and its budget has also increased:
“My understanding from some conversations is that they were unsure if our information was based on solid data. I think the council was not entirely sure we were going to meet those goals, even though it’s based on actual deposit numbers in spring and early summer,” says Setty, who received word of the public notice by email Sept. 3.
Previously, the law school was also asked about funds that the university was giving the law school, Setty says.
“The university is committed to making the law school work; we just need to make sure that the council fully understand the depth of the support,” she says.
UDC Law’s notice of non-compliance was about Standard 501(d) which requires schools to only admit students capable of passing the bar exam, and noted the rate of academic attrition at the law school. Dean Renée McDonald Hutchins said the school has made academic improvements but the school’s goals, as part of a historically black college, are linked to increasing diversity in the legal profession:
“Diversification of the legal profession will always be core to UDC Law’s mission. It is therefore not enough for our students to earn a degree, bar passage, too, is essential to access. As one of just six HBCU law schools and the only public law school in the nation’s capital, UDC Law is keenly aware of its responsibility in this regard,” Renée McDonald Hutchins, the law school’s dean, wrote in an email to the ABA Journal. According to her, the law school has already taken various steps toward improvement, but the action is recent and not yet measurable.
“We receive the council’s finding that the law school has not yet demonstrated compliance as an important reminder of our ongoing pledge to our students—that they will not only receive a top-flight education at UDC Law but also will be positioned to enter practice. We are confident we will soon be better able to demonstrate to the council the impact of our recent improvements, and the school will successfully turn the page on this challenging chapter,” she wrote.
Both law schools were asked to submit reports regard the noncompliance, and could see a hearing on the matter in 2020, depending on what the council of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar thinks about their responses.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).