Established by the state Supreme Court in March, the Workgroup on the Role of the American Bar Association in Bar Admission Requirements will submit its report to the court by Sept. 30.
The administrative order authorizing the group states that with limited exceptions, the current Rules of the Supreme Court Relating to Admissions to the Bar require graduation from an ABA-accredited law school as a prerequisite to sitting for the Florida Bar Examination.
Florida’s rules for the Bar examination have relied on ABA accreditation since 1955. In 1992, the ABA became the only law school accreditor recognized in the court’s rules.
The ABA website says it is “committed to advancing the rule of law across the United States and beyond by providing practical resources for legal professionals, law school accreditation, model ethics codes and more.”
The voluntary organization said it had 400,000 members in 2024.
The order said the court is interested in considering the merits of the rules’ continued reliance on the ABA and whether changes to the rules are warranted.
The court appointed the group to study the ABA accreditation requirement in the Bar admission rules and to propose possible alternatives.
Former state Supreme Court Justice Ricky Polston is chair, joined by U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Florida Allen Winsor; Erin O’Hara O’Connor, dean of the Florida State University College of Law; John F. Stinneford, law professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law; and attorneys Adam Foslid and John Stewart.
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,” Chief Justice Carlos 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.”
The work group’s charge:
• Examine the court’s existing rules as they relate to the ABA’s role in accrediting law schools and the requirements for admission to The Florida Bar.
• Study related requirements in Florida, other state and federal laws, rules and regulations.
• Evaluate the pros and cons of Florida’s regulatory status quo as it relates to the ABA’s role in the requirements for admission to The Florida Bar.
• Propose to the court any possible alternatives that might merit the court’s consideration, including alternatives that would end the rules’ reliance on the ABA.
There are 12 fully ABA-accredited law schools in Florida. Enrolling students for the past three years, Jacksonville University College of Law is provisionally accredited by the ABA.
Graduates from the 13 law schools represent most first-time takers of the Florida Bar exam. People who take the exam under alternative educational qualifications allowed in the rules comprise those who have practiced law for five years or more in the District of Columbia, federal court or other jurisdictions without an ABA-accredited diploma requirement.
Thousands of first-time applicants take the Florida Bar Exam in its twice-a-year administration. In 2024, 2,890 people took the exam for the first time and only 10 did so under provisions allowing graduates of non-ABA-accredited law schools to seek admission to the Bar.
The order said the workgroup is an advisory body. Any change to the court’s existing Bar admission rules would have to be adopted through the court’s rule amendment process, including a formal opportunity for public comment.
In July 2025, the Florida Supreme court directed The Florida Bar to stop appointing delegates to the ABA’s House of Delegates, citing concerns about its alignment with The Florida Bar’s core mission.
The ABA website describes the House of Delegates as the national association’s policymaking body that adopts resolutions that shape its positions on a wide range of professional and public issues.
In a June 12 letter to The Florida Bar leadership, Muñiz, writing on behalf of the Florida Supreme Court, excluding Justice Jorge Labarga, expressed concern that participation in the ABA’s policymaking body could entangle the Florida Bar in contentious political or policy debates.
“As you know, The Florida Bar’s core mission is to assist the Court in regulating the legal profession in Florida,” Muñiz wrote.
“Florida Bar members are a large group with diverse views. To stay focused on its mission, and out of respect for its members, the Bar strives to avoid entangling itself, even indirectly, in contentious policy debates. The Bar’s practice of making appointments to the ABA’s House of Delegates is inconsistent with that goal.”