From July 30 to August 2 this past summer, the American Bar Association (ABA) held their annual ABA Conference in Chicago.  A few members of the SBA were able to attend and take part in some of the educational classes offered as well as attend the assembly meeting of the ABA's Law Student Division.  But what exactly is the ABA and what is its relationship to the GW SBA?

According to its website, the ABA is "the largest voluntary professional association in the world."  They also provide "law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public."  The Law Student Division is "one of the ABA's more than 30 sections, divisions, and forum committees under the Association's umbrella."  The objectives of the Division include "represent[ing] law students in the Association and to represent the Association to law students; help[ing] shape the policies and priorities that affect legal education; and; creat[ing] a deliberative forum for the exchange and expression of law student views and a voice to advocate those views."  The SBA President and the ABA Representative from each accredited law school is a voting member of the Division and thus attends the assembly meeting at the ABA Conference and votes on any initiatives that may be presented.  This is a fairly cursory summary so for more information see the website at www.abanet.org.

On Saturday afternoon, the Law Student Division Assembly met for four hours.  Besides giving a couple hundred future lawyers a chance to hear themselves talk, the Assembly also gave us the chance to vote on a few "reports".  Specifically, two reports were introduced by the President of the Harvard Law School SBA that dealt with working and law school.  One sought to repeal Standard 304(f) of the ABA's Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools which states that "a student may not be employed more than 20 hours per week in any week in which the student is enrolled in more than twelve class hours."  A second report was presented that sought to repeal Standard 305-3 which states "a law school may not grant credit to a student for participation in a field placement program for which the student receives compensation."  The Standards are not binding.  While a law school can choose to have a more (or less) stringent standard than those adopted by the ABA, the Standards still provide some necessary guidance to accredited law schools around the country.  The two reports we voted on basically would allow students to work more than 20 hours per week and receive credit for an outside placement paid internship.

Both of these reports passed.   However, it is hard to see the impact of this action.  Just because these reports passed the Law School Division Assembly, it does not mean that the ABA's standards are changed. The ABA Board of Delegates (the governing body of the ABA) will eventually need to pass these reports in order for the actual ABA standards to be changed.  Should they pass and should the standards change, it is again important to note that any law school would still be free to deviate from the standards and restrict their students from working more than 20 hours per week or from receiving credit for a paid internship.

It wasn't all politics and logrolling at the convention.  The Law School Division also set up SBA Roundtables where the SBA representatives from each school could sit and discuss different issues that each school is facing.  Our Executive VP Liz Westbrook and I attended one of these sessions and Liz and I both noted how fortunate we are at GW to have the administrative support that we do when compared to other law schools.  Many schools expressed frustration when dealing with their respective administrations.  Rebecca Bianchi, the GW SBA Chief of Staff who attended a roundtable discussion as well, also added "Learning about the programs and initiatives at other schools, and discussing what has worked and not worked, was a valuable source of ideas and information.  It also made us realize just how good we have it at GW!"  I swear we're not just drinking the Kool-Aid either!  While GW has its own set of challenges, we really do have a supportive administration that looks to work with us, not against us which creates a very beneficial and productive working relationship.

In addition, the GW Alumni Office held an alumni event on Friday night of the convention.  Deans Lawrence and Morrison were in attendance as well as other faculty and professors and a number of proud alumni.  It was great to see the school using this conference as an opportunity to reach out to GW alumni and to see that the GW community continues after you graduate.  All told, it was a successful weekend filled with politics and education and the SBA some fresh, new ideas to bring back to GW.