About Us

Mission Statement

The mission of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the ABA’s first section, is:

• To be a creative national force in providing leadership and services to those responsible for and those who benefit from a sound program of legal education and bar admissions,
• to provide a fair, effective, and efficient accrediting system for American law schools that promotes quality legal education, and
• to continue to serve, through its Council, as the nationally recognized accrediting body for American law schools.

The ABA's First Section

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. Although 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.Each year at the ABA Annual Meeting, The Section and the national Kutak Rock law firm present the Robert J. Kutak Award in recognition of an individual who has contributed significantly to increased cooperation between legal education, the practicing bar, and the judiciary.

The Section Today

The Section's Council and Accreditation Committee are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) as the national accrediting agency for programs leading to the J.D. In this function, the Council and the Section are independent of the ABA, as required by DOE regulations. All state supreme courts recognize ABA-approved law schools as meeting the legal education requirements to qualify for the bar examination; forty-six states limit eligibility for bar admission to graduates of ABA-approved schools.

Members of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar become part of a 14,000 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. The Section also studies and makes recommendations for the improvement of the bar admission process.

General Inquiries

321 N. Clark Street, 19th Floor
Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: 312.988.6738
Email

Staff Contact Information

To view staff job descriptions, click here.

Daniel Becker
Director, Accreditation Administration
312.988.5140

Vacant
Director of Operations

JR Clark
Director, Accreditation Administration
312.988.6750

Genevieve Ferraro
Manager, Legal Education Assessment Services
312.988.6751

Stephanie Giggetts
Deputy Managing Director
312.988.5210

Summer Giles
Manager of Program Administration 
312.988.5614

Beverly Holmes
Program Associate
312.988.6738

Mimi Huang  
Senior Accreditation Counsel
312.973.1539

Fernando Mariduena
Paralegal
312.988.6737

Donna Mosher
Executive Assistant to the Managing Director
312.988.6746

Molly (Wilensky) Nguyen
Manager, Law School Analytics and Reporting
312.988.6804

Enna Rios
Program Specialist 
312.988.6208

Jennifer L. Rosato Perea
Managing Director
312.988.5103  (Donna Mosher, Executive Assistant)

Sara Stretch
Director, Accreditation Administration 
312.988.5621

Adrienne Tucker
Senior Meeting Planner
312.988.6749

Ken Williams
Data Specialist
312.988.6739

Kirsten Winek
Accreditation Counsel
312.988.6714

Erin Winters
Section Director
312.988.5512