The GAO issued a report last week finding that the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Standards for the Approval of Law Schools play only a “minor role” in increasing costs of J.D. programs and the lack of diversity in law schools - two important matters for legal education and the profession.

The report generated attention - from The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, the ABA Journal, and in the blogs (see, for example, Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports and Above the Law). For those of us who work at law schools or follow legal education closely, these findings are not surprising. They are also somewhat beside the point. continue reading

“Reverse engineering,” the process of taking something apart to see how it works with an eye toward building something similar or improved over the original, may help those of us who work in law schools rethink legal education and make it better. continue reading