Prof. Howland Elected Chair of ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Council

Professor Joan S. Howland has been elected chair of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Council for the 2014-15 term. The Section focuses on legal education, lawyer licensing, and the bar admissions process. The Council is the national accrediting body for law schools located in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Howland has been a member of the Council since 2006. Her other work with the ABA has included service on numerous committees, including, from 2001-06, membership on the Accreditation Committee.

Howland is the Law School's Associate Dean for Information and Technology. She has held the Roger F. Noreen Chair in Law since 1996 and teaches American Indian Legal History. She is a member of the American Law Institute and is active in the Association of American Law Schools, the American Indian Library Association, the American Library Association, and other professional organizations. She serves on the advisory board of the American Journal of Legal History and was recently elected co-chair of the Chinese and American Forum on Legal Information and Law Libraries.

The Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which dates to 1893, was the first section formed by the ABA after its 1878 organization. Its Council and Accreditation Committee are independent of the ABA, as required by the U. S. Department of Education, and are recognized as the national accrediting agency for educational programs leading to the J.D. degree. Graduates of ABA-approved law schools meet the requirements of all state supreme courts to take the bar examination.

Joan Howland
Associate Dean for Information and Technology
Roger F. Noreen Professor of Law