Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Criticism of Harris for his non-ABA law school degree is unmerited

In a recent article I noticed a person (brucefoster@hotmail) had commented on the state of “unaccredited” law schools which rather awkwardly and incorrectly offers a syllogism which, if accepted, would conclude the following: 1) Non-American Bar Association accredited law schools do not meet the ABA standards, 2) Steve Harris graduated from a non-ABA accredited law school, 3) Judge Gerald Blackburn, chief judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia graduated from a non-ABA accredited law school (John Marshall, ‘68), 4) Steve Harris and Judge Blackburn should not be allowed to hold public office.

As a backdrop to this brief response, let me add that non-ABA accredited law schools (John Marshall Law School, as an example) are fully accredited by the state of Georgia and its licensing agency, the State Bar of Georgia.

The notion that receiving some sort of recognition from the American Bar Association is a pre-requisite to acquiring the training to become a quality lawyer is as much a myth as the notion that recognition of your automobile by J.D. Power makes it more valuable or that an A.M. Best A+ rating makes one insurance company better than another, per se.

Moreover the American Bar Association (to which I once belonged but since have resigned) has always, in my opinion, been a breeding ground for activist judges and constitutional law apologists. There has never been a cause too liberal that would not be pursued by that association. Theirs is a preoccupation with manners and breeding, not the everyday practice of law.

To quickly illustrate the fallacy in believing ABA recognition is needed for success: In the late 80’s and early 90’s in my jurisdiction, Clayton County, the chief judge of the superior court, the chief judge of the state court, the chief solicitor of the state court, the chief judge of the juvenile, the judge of the probate court as well as the magistrate judge were all, well, graduates of “unaccredited law schools.”

One wonders, if one believes Mr. Foster’s assessment of unaccredited law school graduates, how Clayton County muddled through all those years with so many ill-educated, unethical non-ABA type lawyers and judges running the judicial system. Just lucky I suppose.

James W. Studdard

Fayetteville, Ga.

[Studdard has been practicing law in Clayton County for three decades.]