William E. Adams
Managing Director
As the Section’s year comes to a close, it is time to reflect upon the year and anticipate the one upcoming. Schools have spent another year dealing with the challenges posed by the pandemic. The experience from Spring 2020 helped them adjust to offering classes remotely as needed throughout the 2020-21 academic year. As they plan for fall classes, most have asked for permission to offer distance education as needed should the pandemic continue to require that flexibility.
The Nominating Committee has nominated an accomplished and well-qualified slate of officers and new members to the Council for the next year. The office has experience in working with many of the nominees and the qualifications of the other nominees inspire confidence that the Council will again have an exceptionally talented membership next year. The Council and Office both look forward to working with the incoming Chair, Dean Emeritus Leo Martinez. In addition to his experience with accreditation, those in legal education know that his experience in legal education will provide excellent leadership to the new Council. The Election will take place at the Annual Business Meeting.
The proposed amendments to the Standards sent out for Notice and Comment on professional identity, diversity, equity, and inclusion issues this summer have generated numerous comments. The new Standards Review Committee will discuss them and make recommendations to the new Council in response. The office conducted another set of roundtables focused on data collection and reporting related to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. As usual, insightful comments were provided. Summaries of those comments will be posted on our website along with an invitation to submit written comments about the issues discussed.
I am pleased to report positive progress with the Council’s petition for renewal of accreditation authority over the JD program with the Department of Education. The Departmental staff has recommended that the Council’s petition for renewal be granted for five years without problems or issues. In addition, the Council Chair and staff appeared before the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which makes recommendations to the Department on accreditation agencies. It has unanimously recommended that the Council’s petition be granted. We will report when we receive the final decision from the Department.
Before closing, I want to acknowledge and thank the Council members who will be leaving when their terms end in August. The Honorable Mary Russell, judge on the Supreme Court of Missouri, has been a valued and hard-working Council member offering exactly the type of insights valuable to the Council from the perspective of the bench. She has also served on multiple site visit teams. Pamela Lysaght, Professor (Retired) of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, has served as Standards Review Committee Chair on the Council, in addition to service on the former Accreditation Committee, including as Vice Chair. Pam has served brilliantly in all of these roles. Diane Bosse, Esq., has served as Chair of the Council, former Chair of the Accreditation Committee, as well as member of the former Standards Review and Bar Admissions Committees. She has also chaired numerous site teams. Her leadership on both the Admissions Committee and Council has been outstanding. Rebecca Hanner White, Dean and Professor Emerita at the University of Georgia School of Law, previously chaired the Accreditation Committee and has led the Interim Monitoring Committee for the Council. We have all benefitted from her stewardship of both groups. Solomon Oliver, Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, leaves as Section Delegate after long service on the Council, including as its Chair. In addition to his sterling service as Chair he has more than ably presented resolutions on behalf of the Council with the ABA House of Delegates with the wisdom that I am sure he exhibits on the bench. As should be evident from this brief description of just a few of the positions held by the departing members on various Council committees and working groups, the Council is losing a significant amount of institutional experience and knowledge next year. I will also add a personal note that they are all terrific people whose advice and friendship will be sorely missed by their colleagues and all of us in the Office. Finally, I want to again thank Scott Bales, Chief Justice (Retired) of the Arizona Supreme Court and outgoing Chair, for his calm and patient advice to me since I assumed this position at the beginning of the pandemic. He and Diane provided support to me and excellent leadership to the Council as it and the Office navigated these unprecedented times. I cannot thank all of the above people enough for their contributions.