[blindlaw] FW: Comment Submission to Help Law Students with Disabilities

Tue Apr 19 20:37:04 UTC 2011

From: CMPDL's Disability Discussion Docket (3D) [mailto:CMPDL-3D at MAIL.AMERICANBAR.ORG] On Behalf Of Phelan, William
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 12:05 PM
To: CMPDL-3D at MAIL.AMERICANBAR.ORG
Subject: Comment Submission to Help Law Students with Disabilities

Hello friends,

Some of you I have spoken to already. For those who I have not spoken with, please excuse the impersonal nature of this e-mail; but, as you will see below, there is a task before us that requires effort from a large group.

I am writing you to see if you and/or your entity wish to submit comments to the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar's (LEAB) Standards Review Committee (SRC) in order to ameliorate the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools (Standards).

Background

SRC is soliciting comment from interested parties (for more details, see: http://apps.americanbar.org/legaled/committees/comstandards.html). Comments to SRC are due by mid-July. SRC will then process the comments and submit its suggestions to LEAB in August. LEAB will then release the proposed changes to the public for another round of comments. Therefore, there will be two bites at this apple.

As you may know, the Standards are what all ABA-approved law schools must meet in order to receive ABA-accreditation. The legal education community takes the Standards very seriously. Some of the Standards touch on disability either directly or indirectly, and nearly all of these Standards do so in an inadequate manner. Therefore, making sure concerns are heard when the Standards are updated is an imperative policy project that can help ensure that nearly all of America's law schools and legal testing agencies properly accommodate applicants and law students with disabilities.

Without going into too much detail at this time, there are serious and well-founded concerns that applicants and law students with disabilities are facing problems in receiving accommodations from testing agencies and law schools. There also appears to be problems in eliminating bias within the profession regarding this population. Whether it is flagging on the LSAT, a denial of JAWS for a civil procedure final, or the faulty assumption that someone with a learning disability is automatically unfit to attend law school, those in the early part of the legal profession's pipeline who happen to have disabilities need help!

The Commission and its Committee on Lawyers with Disabilities have already drafted and approved a set of comments for the first round of commenting. They are attached. You can access the Standards in their current form here: http://www.americanbar.org/content/aba/groups/legal_education/resources/standards.html.

Action Requested

The SRC is asking entities or individuals to submit comments. If your organization, for whatever reason, cannot submit comments they can be submitted by you in your individual capacity. This effort is being treated as a submission process used for commenting on proposed rules offered by governmental agencies. What is important here is for the legal education community to read your views regarding the importance of providing an unobstructed path to law school and beyond.

The attached comments provide explanations of the proposed edits. I would also like to hear your views. Therefore, there will be a conference call to further explain this process and discuss potential comments to the Standards. After a brief explanation of the process and a run down of the Commission's product, the call will be open for all to participate. I expect the call to last no more than an hour. You do not need to attend the phone call to participate and submit comments.

In sum, this is an excellent opportunity to help law students and law school applicants with disabilities.

Next Steps

 1.  Please reply to me and let me know if you are interested in joining this information-sharing effort
 2.  Go to the following link before 5PM on 4/26/11 and indicate during which of the proposed conference call times you are available: http://doodle.com/r5n457pu6ysqx3xr . If you require conference call captioning, please let me know in your e-mail reply.
 3.  On 4/27/11 I will notify all of the date and time of the conference call and provide call-in information.
 4.  Go over the attached document in preparation for the call.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Best,
Bill Phelan

William J. Phelan, IV, Esq.
Special Projects & Technology Coordinator
   Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law
American Bar Association
740 15th Street, NW, 9th Fl.
Washington, DC 20005-1022

T: 202-662-1576
F: 202-442-3439
william.phelan at americanbar.org<mailto:william.phelan at americanbar.org>
http://www.abanet.org/disability

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Disability Discussion Docket (3D)
ABA Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law
http://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_services/mental_physical_disability.html

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