ABA Standards And Externships Review of Changes – Spring 2016

Overview of Changes New Standard 304(c) on field placements "Faculty" New pedagogically focused criteria New documentation: "written understanding" "Guided reflection" Gone or revised: site visits; hi/lo credit "Experiential course": Standard 303 Paid externships

Standard 304(c) Regulation of field placements Standard 304: No longer with competitions, journals, outside classes Now with clinics and simulations Standard 304: Clinics defined in 304(a) Simulations defined in 304(b) Field placements in 304(c) Drafting notes: Language of 304(a), (b), (c) is parallel Several parts of former Standard 305 carried over Stronger focus on criteria related to pedagogy

Faculty 304 (c) requires "faculty" to teach the course Supervision by faculty or site supervisor Feedback from faculty or site supervisor Written understanding between faculty, student, site supervisor Regular contact between faculty and site supervisors Faculty-guided reflection Evaluation of students by faculty "Faculty" includes Tenure-stream and not Full-time and part-time Adjuncts and lecturers

Site Supervisors 304(c)(1): under the supervision of a licensed attorney or an individual otherwise qualified to supervise Standard 305 did not require a licensed attorney New language requires a determination that, if not a licensed attorney, the site supersivor must be otherwise qualified Includes JD advantage, compliance, and similar practices

Kinds of work 304(c): Language includes substantial lawyering experience that is reasonably similar to the experience of a lawyer advising or representing a client OR engaging in other lawyering tasks "outside a law clinic" Language includes Client advocacy and representation Other kinds of practices (e.g. judicial, policy, etc.)

Pedagogical criteria Criteria parallel to clinics and simulations: Direct supervision Opportunities for performance Feedback Self-evaluation Supervision and feedback provided by either Faculty OR Site supervisor Requirements not tightly linked to each other

Faculty-guided reflection 304(c)(2)(v): a classroom instructional component, regularly scheduled tutorials, or other means of ongoing, contemporaneous, faculty-guided reflection Changes from 305: Required for all field placements, not just high credit ones "Ongoing": i.e. throughout the semester "Contemporaneous": i.e. In the same semester Note: requirements for experiential courses (covered later)

Documentation 304(c)(2)(iv): a written understanding among the student, faculty member, and a person in authority at the field placement that describes both (A) the substantial lawyering experience and opportunities for performance, feedback and self-evaluation; and (B) the respective roles of faculty and any site supervisor in supervising the student and in assuring the educational quality of the experience for the student, including a clearly articulated method of evaluating the student’s academic performance 304(c)(2)(vii): "records to document . . .compliance . . .shall include, but [are] not necessarily limited to, the written understandings"

Documentation (cont.) Three way agreements Faculty Student Site supervisor Site supervisor must have authority to approve staff time spent on student supervision Two kinds of agreement Long-term agreement with a site, to which students agree as they start Semester-specific agreement dealing with specific student's goals

Carried over from 305 "method for selecting, training, evaluating and communicating with site supervisors" "regular contact between the faculty and site supervisors through in-person visits or other methods of communication that will assure the quality of the student educational experience." "evaluation of each student’s educational achievement by a faculty member" DELETED: high credit / low credit distinction

Experiential Course To count as an experiential course Must comply with Standard 304(c) Must comply with Standard 303 Standard 303(a)(III) a course must be primarily experiential in nature and must: (i) integrate doctrine, theory, skills, and legal ethics, and engage students in performance of one or more of the professional skills identified in Standard 302; (ii) develop the concepts underlying the professional skills being taught; (iii) provide multiple opportunities for performance; and (iv) provide opportunities for self-evaluation.

Credit for Compensated Work If the ban is repealed, schools will not be required to provide credit for paying work Will have flexibility to structure different programs AND will potentially encounter pressure to do so. Questions and strategies Relationships with private for profit firms Public interest fellowships Maintaining balance between paid and unpaid placements Consortiums creating collective practices