Becoming a lawyer could get cheaper and faster under looming Trump admin shakeup

The Trump administration is due to rule by late December on whether the American Bar Association's law school accrediting arm keeps its federal recognition, a status it has held since 1952. The choice belongs to Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent. Education Department staff have urged him to deny renewal, while a federal advisory panel, the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, split evenly on the question in September, according to Fox News.

Stripping recognition would not by itself end the ABA's accreditation of law schools, nor would it alter state rules for admission to the bar. Today, most states expect applicants to have graduated from an ABA-accredited school before sitting for the bar exam. Still, critics say a loss of federal standing could speed up work already underway in some states to approve other ways of vetting law schools, which might let schools try cheaper and shorter programs.

Fox News Digital spoke with two legal education experts, who think most students would probably keep their federal loan eligibility. Adam Biggs, general counsel of the University of Austin, said federal recognition is only a first step and that the ABA losing it would give fresh energy to state supreme courts weighing alternatives.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Fox News’s reporting. Read the full story at Fox News →