The
American Bar Association (
ABA), founded August 21, 1878,
[1] is a
voluntary bar association of
lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the
United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for
law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. The ABA has 410,000 members. Its
headquarters are in
Chicago, Illinois.
The most important role of the ABA is its creation and maintenance of a code of ethical standards for lawyers. The Model Code of Professional Responsibility (1969) and/or the newer Model Rules of Professional Conduct (1983) have been adopted in 49 state jurisdictions and the District of Columbia. The one exception is California, which has refused to adopt either (see State Bar of California), although a few sections of the California Rules of Professional Responsibility have similarities with sections in the ABA model.
According to the ABA, it "provides 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 Mission of the American Bar Association is to be the national representative of the legal profession, serving the public and the profession by promoting justice, professional excellence and respect for the law."[2]
ABA accreditation is important not only because it affects the recognition of the law schools involved, but it also affects a graduate's ability to practice law in a particular state. Specifically, in most U.S. jurisdictions, graduation from an ABA-accredited law school is expressly stated as a prerequisite towards being allowed to sit for that state's bar exam, and even for existing lawyers to be admitted to the bar of another state upon motion.[3] Even states which recognize unaccredited schools within their borders will generally not recognize such schools from other jurisdictions for purposes of bar admission.[4]
