Case for (and Against) ABA Regulation of Non-J.D. Programs

American law schools are entering their second decade of wrenching change following a relative era of prosperity and calm. The decade from 2000 to 2010 was seemingly charmed for law schools. More American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law schools came online, more students took the LSAT, more students enrolled in law school, tuition rose ahead of inflation, and teaching loads went down, as did student-to-faculty ratios. 1 The employment results were worse, and spiking debt levels were hardly good news for students, 2 but ha ha!, those were problems for the students, not the schools, so times seemed good. To paraphrase Doonesbury: It was good news all around! No one suffered but the students, and they're used to it! 3