Top judicial officials: State supreme courts must lead innovation and reform of legal education and admissions

Williamsburg, Va. (July 30, 2025) — The Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) today released the findings of an 18-month effort to better understand the changing legal profession and why it is not meeting the needs of the American people . The study is based on 12 regional listening conferences across the country; over 90 interviews and focus groups of a wide range of stakeholders; and surveys of over 4,000 judges, 4,400 practicing attorneys, and 600 law students.

The report is from CCJ and COSCA's Committee on Legal Education and Admissions Reform (CLEAR). It makes eight recommendations to state supreme courts. The memberships of CCJ and COSCA — the professional associations of top judicial officers and chief executives — endorsed the committee's report at the conclusion of their annual meeting today, held in Rockport, Maine.

CLEAR's charge was to assess how legal education and licensure practices and processes can address the justice gap crisis and ensure public trust and confidence in the legal profession.

"As the primary regulators of the legal profession in their respective jurisdictions, state supreme courts play a critical leadership role in ensuring that the public has access to competent legal representation," said Chief Justice Gordon J. MacDonald of New Hampshire, and chair of the committee.

The committee's report identifies numerous challenges facing the legal profession that, the report says, should inform the scope of preparation, licensing, and support to new attorneys. Those challenges include the explosion in self-representation, the spread of legal deserts, generational changes, and the ongoing need to align legal education, licensure and the practice of law.

In its report, CLEAR makes the following recommendations to state supreme courts:

1. Lead collaborative efforts to align legal education, bar admissions and new lawyers' readiness to practice with public needs by fostering innovation and reform.
2. Implement state-level efforts to improve practice readiness by identifying and implementing specific strategies before and after lawyers are admitted to the practice of law.
3. Encourage law school accreditation that serves the public by promoting innovation, experimentation, and cost-effective legal education geared toward lawyers meeting the legal needs of the public.
4. Reduce reliance on external law school rankings.
5. Encourage experiential learning that involves client responsibility through clinics, internships, externships or other practice settings, and through licensing requirements established in collaboration with legal educators.
6. Reform bar admissions processes to better meet public needs by exploring innovative pathways to licensure that enhance practice readiness and address access to justice.
7. Support public service attorneys by championing public interest lawyering and by engaging prospective and enrolled law students about the financial and professional implications of law school.
8. Encourage rural practice by expanding opportunities for cost-effective rural education by promoting distance learning, exploring innovative pathways designed to address rural legal needs, and encouraging internship, externship, and law clerkships.

"The recommendations outlined in this report offer a roadmap for how state courts can lead in advancing the profession and ensuring that access to justice for all is a reality," said Justice C. Shannon Bacon of New Mexico, and vice-chair of the committee.

CCJ and COSCA also endorsed institutionalizing the work of CLEAR through the creation of a permanent standing committee to support the implementation of its recommendations. CLEAR's work was supported by the National Center for State Courts, AccessLex Institute^®, the largest nonprofit organization in legal education, and the Thomson Reuters Institute.

The full report is available on the website of the National Center for State Courts.