The American Bar Association is the latest organization to launch a task force examining the changes roiling the law profession and legal education. The 18-member Task Force on the Future of Legal Education plans to spend two years examining how well law schools are meeting the needs of the profession. “The growing public attention to the cost of a law school education, the uncertain job prospects for law school graduates and the delivery of legal services in a changing market warrant substantial examination and analysis by the ABA and the legal profession,” outgoing ABA President William Robinson III said in announcing its formation. “Legal education must be evaluated in the context of the marketplace and the nation’s and world’s unprecedented challenges in an ever-more complex global economy.” The ABA is hardly the first organization to examine the legal landscape, although its effort appears more focused on legal education than some of its predecessors. The New York State Bar Association convened a Task Force of the Future of the Legal Profession, which issued a report in April 2011 on the training and education of new lawyers; law firm structure and billing; technology; and work-life balance. The New York City Bar Association last month announced a Task Force on New Lawyers in a Changing Profession with a special eye to job opportunities for new lawyers. “Too many law graduates face diminished opportunities to launch their careers and fear they will never get on track,” city bar president Carey Dunne said when that task force was formed. “Even those who are employed are justifiably worried about their longer-term prospects for a productive and satisfying career in the law.” The Massachusetts Bar Association in 2011 convened a task force on law graduate unemployment. The 14-member panel in May recommended increased mentoring for young attorneys and law students; the addition of law school-funded clerk positions within the state trial court system; establishment of post-graduate clinics; and law school-controlled teaching firms. Additional bar associations around the country have delved into the problems facing young attorneys. While these efforts have identified problems, no dramatic changes in career development have resulted. It remains to be seen whether the ABA’s task force, which will be national in scope, will solve the problem of high unemployment for law graduates. Former Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard, now an executive in residence at Indiana University’s Public Policy Institute, will chair the panel, which counts lawyers, judges, law professors and general counsel among its members. “The task force will solicit views in the widest way possible to help us identify how the bench, bar and legal education community can work together to provide meaningful opportunities for law students and graduates that benefit clients and the public at large,” Shepard said. Contact Karen Sloan at [email protected].