Fernando Moreno Orama, dean of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico's Law School, analyzes a controversy over the federal recognition of the American Bar Association (ABA) Council, and its potential effects on law school accreditation, including implications for Puerto Rico. He explains that for over 100 years the ABA has played a central role in regulating and accrediting legal education in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, adopting its first standards in 1921 and publishing a list of approved schools.
Since 1952, the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has been recognized by the federal Department of Education as the accrediting agency for Juris Doctor programs; though commonly called 'ABA accreditation,' it is technically the Council, part of the ABA, that holds this recognition. He notes that professional schools like law faculties are typically accredited by subject-specific bodies to assure quality, and that federal recognition of accrediting agencies can also serve as a link allowing academic institutions access to federal funds for scholarships, loans, and research.