Standard 206:
The ABA Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar voted during its Council meeting to extend the suspension of Standard 206 until August 31, 2026. During any period of suspension, the Council will not take any action based in whole or part on Standard 206, conduct any evaluation that includes an assessment of institutional compliance with Standard 206, or issue any guidance regarding compliance with this Standard while suspended.
There continue to be emergent developments in the higher education landscape, including litigation pending related to several recently issued Executive Orders and Dear Colleague letters. In light of these developments, the Council determined that extraordinary circumstances exist in which compliance with Standard 206 would constitute extreme hardship for multiple law schools, and that the Standard should not be presently enforced.
The Council has directed the Standards Committee to continue monitoring legal developments and to provide an update no later than its May 2026 meeting.
Experiential Learning:
The Council voted on changes to Standards related to experiential learning. The primary changes, which will go out for notice and comment, include increasing the number of required experiential learning credit hours from 6 to 12, and requiring that 3 of the 12 credit hours must be in a clinic or field placement. No credit hours earned in the first 1/3 of a student’s JD program of legal education will count toward the 12 credit hours. These proposed changes would go into effect 3 years after they are concurred in by the ABA HOD or after a final decision of the Council if there is no concurrence – likely no earlier than 2030.