American Bar Association Legal Education Section Approves
Two North Carolina Law Schools, Raises National Total to 200

CHICAGO, June 9, 2008—Arizona Chief Justice Ruth V. McGregor, chair of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, announced Sunday the section has granted provisional approval to two law schools in North Carolina, Elon University School of Law in Greensboro and Charlotte School of Law.  The action by the section’s governing council is effective immediately, and brings the total number of ABA-approved law schools in the nation to 200.

Each school will graduate its first class of students next May.  With provisional ABA approval, the schools are entitled to all the rights of fully-approved law schools and their graduates will be entitled to the same recognition as graduates of fully-approved law schools.  Graduation from an ABA-approved law school satisfies the educational requirement for eligibility to sit for the bar examination in every U.S. jurisdiction.

Provisional approval is the first step toward full ABA approval.  A new law school is not eligible to apply for provisional approval until it has been in operation a full year.  When it applies, it must establish that it is in substantial compliance with each of the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools and present a reliable plan for bringing the school into full compliance with the standards within three years.  A school remains on provisionally-approved status for at least three years, but must achieve full approval within five years, unless extraordinary circumstances justify an extension.   Additional information about the law school approval process is available here.

Other provisionally approved law schools are Charleston School of Law, Charleston, S.C.; Drexel University College of Law, Philadelphia; Faulkner University Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, Montgomery, Ala.; Florida A&M University College of Law, Orlando, Fla.; the University of LaVerne College of Law, Ontario, Calif.; Liberty University School of Law, Lynchburg, Va.; John Marshall Law School, Atlanta; Phoenix School of Law, Phoenix; and Western State University College of Law, Fullerton, Calif.

A complete list of ABA approved law schools is available here.

With more than 413,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

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