Experts to discuss environmental regulation, policy issues at ABA conference in Orlando
Government officials, in-house counsel and academics will discuss key topics and issues confronting environmental, energy and resources lawyers at the 47th Spring Conference hosted by the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Resources on April 18-20 at the Hilton Bonnet Creek Resort in Orlando.
Keynote speakers include William Wehrum, assistant administrator in the Office of Air and Radiation at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at 8 a.m. on April 19; and Noah Valenstein, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, at 8 a.m. on April 20.
Program highlights include:
• “Trump’s First Year: Regulatory Reform and a New Direction?” — Panelists, including U.S. Environmental Protection Agency General Counsel Matt Leopold, will discuss significant environmental regulatory and policy decisions of the Trump administration’s first year including: rescinding the Clean Power Plan, exiting the Paris Agreement on climate change and revisiting the definition of jurisdictional waters under the Clean Water Act. They will examine the impact of budget constraints, shifting priorities and evolving enforcement goals on the direction of EPA, as well as the opportunities presented by the administration and the views of those that may be opposed to the agency’s proposed regulatory reforms.
• “The Domino Effect of Rising Seas: Coastal Siting and Future Waves of Litigation? — Sea level rise is creating new environmental challenges. These challenges include implementing relevant environmental policies to adapt to the risks posed by stronger and more frequent storms and coastal inundation. Sea level rise also has evolving financial and risk management implications in the disclosure and insurance arenas. This panel will discuss the steps being taken in response to sea level rise and the potentially increasing wave of disclosure/risk management litigation with legal perspectives from the government, business and risk management points of view.
• “The New Administration on the World Stage: From NAFTA to Paris, Ozone, Oceans, Chemicals and E-Waste” — Ramifications of U.S. policy shifts extend globally, from NAFTA to the Paris Agreement and beyond. International practitioners and academic experts will review actions taken by the Trump administration and explain how key implications of revised U.S. positions will affect the practice of environmental law. The panel will consider the role of the United States in significant international environmental agreements and forums, such as the Montreal Protocol’s MOP 28 Kigali Amendment to regulate greenhouse gases; international agreements protecting marine resources, illegal fishing and ocean bed mining; the UN’s High-level Political Forum 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and international efforts surrounding mercury and the disposal of e-waste. This panel will provide a current understanding of the administration’s impacts on the world stage and the implications for future U.S. international environmental, energy and resource commitments.
Proposal to make standardized test optional for law schools moves forward
The requirement that American Bar Association-approved law schools require applicants to submit a standardized law school admissions test as part of their application could soon become optional.
An April 13 meeting of the Standards Review Committee of the Council of the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar advanced a proposal to eliminate the requirement that law schools mandate applicants to submit a standardized admission test score as part of their application.
The discussion of the current ABA requirement that law school applications include a “valid and reliable test” has been growing. For more than a half-century, the Law School Admission Test, or LSAT, has been the exclusive test used by schools. In February 2016, the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law was the first school to announce it would accept the Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, for incoming law students. The decision was based on a study that demonstrated that, for students in Arizona Law’s J.D. program, performance on the GRE is a valid and reliable predictor of their first-term law school grades.
Following the UA’s lead, more than one dozen other law schools, including those at Harvard and Northwestern, have announced they would accept the GRE for law school applicants.
“I am pleased that the Standards Review Committee has acted in favor of innovation in legal education,” said Marc Miller, dean of the UA’s James E. Rogers College of Law. “This recommendation recognizes that a one-size-fits-all admissions approach prevents law schools from opening their doors to the widest pool of students capable of success in law school and on the bar. By focusing more on the quality and outcomes of legal education instead of mandating the use of specific measures of potential that are incomplete at best, law schools will be in line with other professional schools and can better serve students and the profession by admitting and educating capable candidates with broad backgrounds and qualifications.”
As proposed by the draft circulated by the council for comment, Standard 503, which requires a test, would be eliminated altogether and Standard 501 would be strengthened. Standard 501 states that a school must “maintain sound admission policies and practices consistent with the Standards, its mission and the objectives of its program of legal education.”
According to an ABA news release, Barry Currier, ABA managing director of accreditation and legal education, and others at the meeting agreed that it was likely that law schools would continue to require an admissions test score from applicants, even if the formal requirement that they do so was removed. Removing the requirement, proponents of the change argue, will open opportunities for law schools to innovate with respect to putting together an entering class that serves well the program and missions of schools.
The matter now goes to the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which meets May 11 in Washington, D.C. If the council approves the changes for Standards 501 and 503 of the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, the earliest they could go before the ABA House of Delegates for its concurrence would be August.
Under the procedures of the council, the ABA House of Delegates can concur with the recommendation or return it with or without recommendation. The council can then send it back to the house again for concurrence. The final decision for this and any standard, however, rests with the council.
