ABA Standard 303: Curriculum (c)
Standard 303(c) of the ABA Law School Accreditation Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools (Effective February 2022) states:
“A law school shall provide education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism:
(1) at the start of the program of legal education, and
(2) at least once again before graduation. For students engaged in law clinics or field placements, the second educational occasion will take place before, concurrently with, or as part of their enrollment in clinical or field placement courses.”
On this page:
The Committee
Since early June, an ad hoc committee of clinicians and stakeholders from across the US have come together to share experiences and learning opportunities, and brainstorm on planning for how to best accomplish the goal the new standard.
Committee Members:
- Bryan Adamson – Case Western Reserve University School of Law
- Kim Diana Connolly – University at Buffalo School of Law
- Elizabeth Cooper – Fordham University School of Law
- Sherley Elenny Cruz – University of Tennessee College of Law
- Carolyn Grose – Mitchell Hamline School of Law
- Kendall Lynn Kerew – Georgia State University College of Law
- Christine Martey-Ochola – Cultural Intelligence Center
- Rick Petry – Mitchell Hamline School of Law
- Karen Tokarz - Washington University School of Law
- Carwina Weng - Law School Admission Council
Events
Thursday, Aug 11, 2022 - Faculty, staff, and administrators from across the country met virtually to share their responses to ABA Accreditation Standard 303’s mandates regarding law school instruction on professional identity, bias, cultural competency and humility, and racism.
Panelists described efforts they are making in their clinics, externships, experiential skills courses, professional responsibility and other courses, and 1L orientations; and more broadly throughout their schools. A Q&A followed a series of brief presentations.
Structured in this way, the meeting provided an overview of a range of strategies being utilized as well as descriptions of specific offerings to provide examples of ways to adapt current practices and/or create new ones in response to the new accreditation standards. The goal was to create a forum to share best practices, and encourage educators to be creative and fearless as they embark on what is seen as an opportunity to radically change law school curricula and focus.
Previous Meetings
Materials and Resources
How to Access and Contribute Materials
All materials can be viewed and downloaded online.
To contribute materials to the collection, please upload documents using our online form.
Orientation or Other 1L Offerings
- Weng – Color of Law PPT
- Weng – Color of Law Discussion
- Tokarz – 1L Negotiations Course (Syllabus)
Clinic, Externship or Other Experiential Offerings
- Cruz - Selection of Identity and Cross-Cultural Humility Resources from the University of Tennessee College of Law’s Legal Clinic Orientation Programming
- Weng – Anti-Racism & Beyond: Skills for Equitable Lawyering (Syllabus)
- Weng - Anti-Racism & Beyond: Skills for Equitable Lawyering – Exercise 4 *
- Weng - Anti-Racism & Beyond: Skills for Equitable Lawyering – Venn Diagram Exercise *
Elective Courses and Offerings
- Adamson - Race, Law & Society at Case Western Reserve University School of Law (Course Description)
Resources and Other Materials
- Cruz - Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Resources
This list of resources was collected by: Sherley Cruz , Jamie Langowski Catherine LaRaia, Caryn Mitchell-Munevar, and Kelly Vieira. It is adapted from materials presented at the 2022 AALS Clinical Conference Session: Use the Force: Incorporating JEDI throughout Your Curriculum.