Its an interesting possibility.  Could New York’s recently finalized 50 hour pro bono requirement for those seeking bar admission go national, and if so, what would the mechanism be?

David Udell, of the National Center for Access to Justice and Deborah Rhode of Stanford, have sent a letter to the ABA Standards Committee on Law School Accreditation urging that a 50 hour pro bono requirement become part of the Accreditation Standards.

Of course, the strongest argument for this move, beyond the moral one, is that it would mesh perfectly with what is happening at the bar admission level, making life far easier for law students who will be applying to join the bar in New York, or other states that follow its lead.

Interestingly, the relevant Chapter of the Standards, Chapter 3, is on the Agenda of the next meeting of the Standards Review Committee, to be held in Atlanta on November 16.  It will be interesting to see what develops — I am sure additonal comments would be appreciated by the Committee.  David Stern, of Equal Justice Works, has already submitted this one.

The list of members of the Committee is here.