{"id":165376,"date":"2026-10-20T12:53:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T20:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/10\/20\/arizona-supreme-court-says-yes-to-a-law-school-outside-the-abas-accreditation-system\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T12:53:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T20:53:43","slug":"arizona-supreme-court-says-yes-to-a-law-school-outside-the-abas-accreditation-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/10\/20\/arizona-supreme-court-says-yes-to-a-law-school-outside-the-abas-accreditation-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Supreme Court Says Yes To A Law School Outside The ABA\u2019s Accreditation System"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed. note<\/u>: Welcome to our daily feature,\u00a0Quote of the Day<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are grateful for the Arizona Supreme Court\u2019s willingness to consider an innovative approach to legal education and for the opportunity to demonstrate that a new pathway to licensure can maintain the highest standards of academic excellence, professional preparation and ethical responsibility. We recognize the significance of being the first institution to operate under these standards and the responsibility that comes with it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 James L. Williams, dean of Grand Canyon University\u2019s College of Law, in comments given<\/a> after the Arizona Supreme Court unanimously approved the school as the state\u2019s first non-ABA-accredited law school<\/a>. The approval gives graduates a path to seek admission to the Arizona bar, provided they meet the state\u2019s other licensing requirements. Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer said Arizona faces \u201ca significant shortage of attorneys\u201d and expressed optimism that GCU could help meet the need. GCU President Brian Mueller said the university welcomes the court\u2019s oversight and the chance to show that \u201cinnovation in higher education and rigorous professional standards can go hand in hand.\u201d GCU plans to pursue ABA accreditation once eligible; under current rules, its graduates may have limited options to practice outside Arizona.<\/strong><\/em><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Staci Zaretsky<\/a> is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky<\/a>, X\/Twitter<\/a>, and Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The post Arizona Supreme Court Says Yes To A Law School Outside The ABA\u2019s Accreditation System<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Ed. note<\/u>: Welcome to our daily feature,\u00a0Quote of the Day<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are grateful for the Arizona Supreme Court\u2019s willingness to consider an innovative approach to legal education and for the opportunity to demonstrate that a new pathway to licensure can maintain the highest standards of academic excellence, professional preparation and ethical responsibility. We recognize the significance of being the first institution to operate under these standards and the responsibility that comes with it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 James L. Williams, dean of Grand Canyon University\u2019s College of Law, in comments given<\/a> after the Arizona Supreme Court unanimously approved the school as the state\u2019s first non-ABA-accredited law school<\/a>. The approval gives graduates a path to seek admission to the Arizona bar, provided they meet the state\u2019s other licensing requirements. Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer said Arizona faces \u201ca significant shortage of attorneys\u201d and expressed optimism that GCU could help meet the need. GCU President Brian Mueller said the university welcomes the court\u2019s oversight and the chance to show that \u201cinnovation in higher education and rigorous professional standards can go hand in hand.\u201d GCU plans to pursue ABA accreditation once eligible; under current rules, its graduates may have limited options to practice outside Arizona.<\/strong><\/em><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Staci Zaretsky<\/a> is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky<\/a>, X\/Twitter<\/a>, and Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature,\u00a0Quote of the Day. We are grateful for the Arizona Supreme Court\u2019s willingness to consider an innovative approach to legal education and for the opportunity to demonstrate that a new pathway to licensure can maintain the highest standards of academic excellence, professional preparation and ethical responsibility. We recognize the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":165377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165376","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=165376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}