PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 2012 — The American Law Institute and the American Bar Association today announced that they have agreed to end their joint arrangement to provide education for the legal profession via ALI-ABA Continuing Professional Education.  This change will increase flexibility as each organization continues to offer legal education programs that help lawyers navigate the rapid changes in legal developments and technology.  Staff members who operate ALI-ABA will continue to work for the ALI.

“ALI-ABA has been a leader in continuing legal education for 65 years, and together the ALI and the ABA have helped lawyers to learn and grow at every stage of their careers,” said Roberta Cooper Ramo, ALI President.  “Education is an important part of the ALI’s mission and we will continue to offer professional education of the highest quality, often collaborating with the ABA and other organizations.”

ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III added, “Bar associations have a responsibility to provide continuing legal education and professional development activities to their members and the profession at large. We are thankful to ALI for joining with us to deliver early on that front.  We will shine a light on this bright piece of our history as we continue to share our expertise and valuable educational content through these programs with the profession at large.”

The joint arrangement between the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association started in 1947, when a demand for legal refresher courses for returning World War II lawyer-veterans revealed a need to ensure the continuing education for all lawyers.  The American Bar Association asked the American Law Institute to undertake the first national program of continuing education and the two organizations formed ALI-ABA.

As partners, ALI-ABA worked to educate the bar about the need for continuing legal education and to work with state and local bar groups to establish organizations that would develop their own continuing education programs.  Experienced and renowned faculty have generously volunteered their time and expertise to help ALI-ABA provide educational programs of the highest quality and relevance in a legal landscape that is constantly shifting.

The American Law Institute, the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify and improve the law, elects to membership the most prominent lawyers, judges and academics in the United States and abroad.  The ALI drafts, discusses, revises and publishes Restatements of the Law, Principles of the Law, the Model Penal Code and the UCC (with the Uniform Law Commission), all of which are influential in courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

- 30 -