TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Aug 28, 2025

A plan to require more hands-on training for law students was pulled just prior to consideration by the American Bar Association (ABA) Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar. The proposal, which would double the number of required hands-on learning credits for American law students from six to 12 credits, had met with strong opposition, according to Reuters. Clinical legal professors and externship supervisors largely have backed the change, as have some attorneys and members of the public, saying it will help produce practice-ready attorneys. But many deans of ABA-accredited law schools said the change would be too costly.