William E. Adams
Managing Director
Despite hope that everyone could move beyond problems caused by the COVID pandemic, new variants continue to pose challenges to the schools and the work of the Council. Nevertheless, the Council and office continue to conduct business and this column will summarize those efforts.
Posted on the website is the call from the Section Nominating Committee for the 2022-2023 Council. Elections will be held for Chair-Elect, Vice Chair and four at-large positions. Three of the at-large positions are held by current members eligible to be elected to a second term. The fourth position is currently held by a public member completing his second and final term. Pursuant to Section Bylaws and Department of Education regulations, one of the four at-large positions up for election must therefore be held by a new public member. The election will take place at the Section’s business meeting during the ABA Annual Meeting in August. The specific day and time have not yet been scheduled, but will be announced on our website and in this publication in the future. The deadline for nominations is March 11, 2022, and must be submitted through the online Council Nominations process.
Nominations are also being sought for the 2022 Robert J. Kutak Award. Established in 1985 by the Section and the national Kutak Rock law firm, the award honors an individual who has made significant contributions to the collaboration of the academy, the bench, and the bar. The award is in memory of Mr. Kutak, a distinguished Omaha lawyer, champion of legal reform, and advocate for legal education. Nominations can be sent to Carl Brambrink in the office. Instructions are also on the website for this honor.
The Council’s proposed amendments to Standards 205, 303, 507, and 508 described in the Fall 2021 edition of this column and on the Section website will go to the ABA House of Delegates at the ABA Midyear Meeting.
At its November meeting, the Council discussed several additional changes proposed by the Standards Committee. The Committee recommended an amendment to Article VI, Section 2 of the Council’s Bylaws in order to comport with Rule 29 and the Council’s current practice of having the Council’s Executive Committee approve or deny teach-out plans that are submitted between Council meetings. The Bylaw amendment was approved as recommended. While not requiring action at this meeting, the Council discussed amending the Bylaws to include a young lawyer representative as a member of the Council – a request submitted by the ABA Young Lawyers Division (YLD). The Standards Committee also recommended a provision to allow the existing YLD liaison to attend closed sessions of Council meetings that involve accreditation matters, which was approved by the Council.
In addition, the Council approved several proposed changes to Standards and Rules that it recommended be sent pursuant to its Notice and Comment process. It approved recommended changes from the Standards Committee to the Diversity and Inclusion Standard, Standard 206. This was the second attempt to revise this Standard, and the new revisions attempt to address the critical comments submitted to the first attempt. The Council also approved for Notice and Comment changes to the Council’s definition of “Distance Education Course.” Finally, it approved other more technical changes to the Distance Education Standard as well as to other Rules, the descriptions of which are on our website.
As noted by the Chair in his column, the office hosted another set of roundtables, this group dealing with the collection of financial data from the schools. I agree with Leo’s observations and thank the attendees who provided helpful recommendations.
I will close by thanking the Council for its support and work and the staff in the office, whose dedication and efforts continue to inspire me.