The beginning of the American Bar Association is linked with American legal education. When the ABA was organized in Saratoga, New York, in August 1878, one of the first standing committees it named was the Committee on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. About the time of the ABA's founding written bar examinations were just coming into use - though required by most states, the bar examination previously had been largely oral and informal. Thus, the two subjects of legal education and admissions to the bar were coupled from the ABA's founding and remain so today. It was at its 1893 Annual Meeting that the ABA created its first section, the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Members of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar become part of a 10,000 member group that strives to improve legal education and lawyer licensing by fostering cooperation among legal educators, practitioners and judges through workshops, conferences and publications. Through the approval process the Section - through its Accreditation Committee and the Section Council - determines law schools' adherence with the American Bar Association's Standards for Approval of Law Schools and recommends the accreditation of law schools by the Association. The Section also studies and makes recommendations for the improvement of the bar admission process.