{"id":136239,"date":"2025-11-03T17:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T01:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/03\/florida-still-stumbling-through-trying-to-replace-aba-accreditation\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T17:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T01:43:10","slug":"florida-still-stumbling-through-trying-to-replace-aba-accreditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/03\/florida-still-stumbling-through-trying-to-replace-aba-accreditation\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Still Stumbling Through Trying To Replace ABA Accreditation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas and Florida have been Things 1 and 2 when it comes to following through with Trump administration edicts on relatively neutral entities being reclassified as aggressively political organizations. In late September, the Texas Supreme Court penned an order stating that the ABA shouldn\u2019t have the final say on whether law school alumni can sit for the Texas bar or be licensed. It has been that way for a while, but the ABA is now compromised what with its insistence on the importance of the rule of law<\/a>. Florida feels similarly, but they\u2019re still trying to iron out the kinks of replacing the largely unproblematic accreditation role the ABA has played for decades. Florida Bar <\/a>has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

A Supreme Court workgroup is proposing alternatives to Florida\u2019s near-exclusive reliance on the ABA in the Bar admissions process, ones designed to \u201cpromote flexibility, innovation, access, and accountability in legal education.<\/p>\n

Promoting flexibility and access in legal education? That just sounds like DEI with extra steps! <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The main problem is that they have big shoes to fill. Like it or not, the ABA is good at the whole accreditation thing. Err too far on throwing out the bad for the new and you risk approaching new accreditation needs the way that California approached needing a new bar<\/a>. If, after all that research and development, you end up dyeing your product so that it looks like Heisenberg\u2019s, you\u2019d have been better off tightening your belt and going with the program. Remember: all this hubbub about diversity requirements in accreditation doesn\u2019t hold that much water considering the ABA has and had extended the moratorium on that bit for a while now<\/a>. Speaking frankly, Texas and Florida would probably be better off lobbying to get the ABA proper to make the changes they want to see rather than making a garment from entirely new cloth.<\/p>\n

One of the most astute observations the committee made is that Texas and Florida are the only states that are acting on their beef with the ABA as an accrediting body. Even if TweedleTex and TweedleFlor figure out which of their graduates can practice in their own states, what happens if and when they decide to move or work in any of the other 48 states? As stated in the report, Florida could preempt some of this challenge and reach out to other states to make multistate agreements or push for reform on their own, but that\u2019s a lot harder ask than to let everyone else stick to the program.<\/p>\n

All that said, these two are going to do whatever it takes to own the libs. Good luck or whatever. <\/p>\n

Court Workgroup Explores Alternatives To ABA Role In Bar Admissions<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Texas Plans To Cut Law School Accreditation Ties With The ABA<\/a><\/p>\n

Over 50 Bar Organizations Stand Up For The Rule Of Law<\/a><\/p>\n

ABA Likely To Extend Suspension Of Diversity Requirement For Law School Accreditation<\/a><\/p>\n

ABA President Says They Aren\u2019t \u2018Retreating\u2019 From Diversity Promises. Does He Know What The ABA Has Been Up To?<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Florida Still Stumbling Through Trying To Replace ABA Accreditation<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Texas and Florida have been Things 1 and 2 when it comes to following through with Trump administration edicts on relatively neutral entities being reclassified as aggressively political organizations. In late September, the Texas Supreme Court penned an order stating that the ABA shouldn\u2019t have the final say on whether law school alumni can sit for the Texas bar or be licensed. It has been that way for a while, but the ABA is now compromised what with its insistence on the importance of the rule of law<\/a>. Florida feels similarly, but they\u2019re still trying to iron out the kinks of replacing the largely unproblematic accreditation role the ABA has played for decades. Florida Bar <\/a>has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

A Supreme Court workgroup is proposing alternatives to Florida\u2019s near-exclusive reliance on the ABA in the Bar admissions process, ones designed to \u201cpromote flexibility, innovation, access, and accountability in legal education.<\/p>\n

Promoting flexibility and access in legal education? That just sounds like DEI with extra steps! <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The main problem is that they have big shoes to fill. Like it or not, the ABA is good at the whole accreditation thing. Err too far on throwing out the bad for the new and you risk approaching new accreditation needs the way that California approached needing a new bar<\/a>. If, after all that research and development, you end up dyeing your product so that it looks like Heisenberg\u2019s, you\u2019d have been better off tightening your belt and going with the program. Remember: all this hubbub about diversity requirements in accreditation doesn\u2019t hold that much water considering the ABA has and had extended the moratorium on that bit for a while now<\/a>. Speaking frankly, Texas and Florida would probably be better off lobbying to get the ABA proper to make the changes they want to see rather than making a garment from entirely new cloth.<\/p>\n

One of the most astute observations the committee made is that Texas and Florida are the only states that are acting on their beef with the ABA as an accrediting body. Even if TweedleTex and TweedleFlor figure out which of their graduates can practice in their own states, what happens if and when they decide to move or work in any of the other 48 states? As stated in the report, Florida could preempt some of this challenge and reach out to other states to make multistate agreements or push for reform on their own, but that\u2019s a lot harder ask than to let everyone else stick to the program.<\/p>\n

All that said, these two are going to do whatever it takes to own the libs. Good luck or whatever. <\/p>\n

Court Workgroup Explores Alternatives To ABA Role In Bar Admissions<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Texas Plans To Cut Law School Accreditation Ties With The ABA<\/a><\/p>\n

Over 50 Bar Organizations Stand Up For The Rule Of Law<\/a><\/p>\n

ABA Likely To Extend Suspension Of Diversity Requirement For Law School Accreditation<\/a><\/p>\n

ABA President Says They Aren\u2019t \u2018Retreating\u2019 From Diversity Promises. Does He Know What The ABA Has Been Up To?<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected] <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas and Florida have been Things 1 and 2 when it comes to following through with Trump administration edicts on relatively neutral entities being reclassified as aggressively political organizations. In late September, the Texas Supreme Court penned an order stating that the ABA shouldn\u2019t have the final say on whether law school alumni can sit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":136240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Chris-Williams-2025-kBMPRB.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}