The FTC Staff Takes Aim At ABA Accreditation

On December 1, the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Office of Policy Planning and Bureau of Competition ("OPP/BOP") responded to the Texas Supreme Court's invitation for comment on the proposed amendments to Rule 1 of the Rules Governing Admission to the Bar of Texas ("Proposed Amendment"), endorsing the Proposed Amendment to eliminate the requirement that bar applicants graduate from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA).¹

In the OPP/BOP's view, the current requirement delegates critical gatekeeping authority to a private trade association with structural incentives to restrain competition. The letter characterizes the ABA's position in legal education as a "monopoly," invoking established antitrust principles relating to occupational licensing and criticizing the ABA's accreditation standards as overly costly and restrictive.²Whether the letter should be understood primarily as antitrust advocacy or at least partly as