Deadline extended for ABA Workgroup on the Role of the American Bar Association in Bar Admission Requirements
The deadline for the Workgroup on the Role of the American Bar Association in Bar Admission Requirements is extended from Sept. 30 to Oct. 31.
The group was formed in March by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muniz to explore alternatives to the rule requiring an applicant, with limited exceptions, to graduate from an American Bar Association-accredited law school in order to take the Florida Bar Examination.
The court directed the workgroup to be “guided in its study and deliberations by the goals of promoting excellence in Florida’s legal profession; not hindering law schools from providing high-quality, cost-effective, and innovative legal education, in a nondiscriminatory setting; and protecting the public and meeting Floridians’ need for legal services.”
A March 2025 news release from the court said that the study is warranted because of increasing public interest in governments’ reliance on ABA accreditation in regulations dealing with lawyer licensing, the ABA’s accreditation standards on racial and ethnic diversity in law schools and the ABA’s active political engagement.
“Our Court is interested in studying whether it still makes sense for our rules to require ABA involvement in the Bar admission process,” Muñiz said in the release.
“We are open minded, we realize there are a lot of moving parts to this issue, and ultimately we’ll try to do what’s best for the people of our State.”