Becoming a lawyer could get cheaper and faster under looming Trump admin shakeup

The US education department is expected to decide by late December whether the American Bar Association’s law school accrediting body will keep federal recognition. Losing that status would not automatically end ABA accreditation or alter state bar admission rules, but experts say it could hasten states’ efforts to approve other routes into the legal profession.

The ABA has held federal recognition since 1952, and most states require bar applicants to graduate from an ABA-accredited school. Texas’s University of Austin is developing a proposed non-ABA-accredited school, considering a two-year course or a combined undergraduate and law programme, with free tuition and no federal funding. Its general counsel argues alternative models could reduce costs and broaden access, including in underserved areas; the article says the federal panel advising on accreditation was deadlocked in September, while department staff recommended against renewing recognition.