The University of Toledo’s College of Law has been granted continual accreditation by the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.
“We are pleased to be reaccredited; we fully expected to be reaccredited,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, former dean of UT’s College of Law. Steinbock stepped down at the end of June, and Dean D. Benjamin Barros started in the position July 1.
UT’s law school was granted full accreditation in 1941 and has since continued to be re-approved during every evaluation.
The American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has been recognized as the U.S. national agency for accreditation of programs leading to the juris doctor degree since 1952.
“To take the bar exam, which is required to be licensed as an attorney in almost all states, the individual has to have graduated from an ABA-accredited law school,” Steinbock said. “Since that’s most law school graduates’ aim in life, to be licensed, they would have no interest in going to an unaccredited law school.”
In addition to the ABA continual accreditation, the College of Law’s membership with the Association of American Law Schools, an academic organization, was reviewed and continued this past November as well. Afterward, the association commended the college’s scholarly productivity and culture, innovative and advanced research and writing requirement, and its success in increasing student diversity.
