Arizona has cleared the way for a new law school that will operate outside the American Bar Association’s accreditation system, marking a significant shift in how the state prepares future attorneys.
The Arizona Supreme Court has approved Grand Canyon University Law School, which is expected to open in Phoenix as early as fall 2027. The decision allows graduates to sit for Arizona’s bar examination and seek a licence to practise law within the state.
The move is aimed at tackling Arizona’s persistent shortage of attorneys, while also introducing an alternative to the traditional route into the legal profession.
A different path to becoming a lawyer
Grand Canyon University, a private Christian institution, has said it intends to pursue accreditation from the American Bar Association. However, state approval gives the proposed law school greater flexibility as the national framework for accrediting legal education faces uncertainty.
The university’s plans come amid growing challenges to the ABA’s longstanding role in law school oversight. The administration of President Donald Trump has moved towards ending the association’s status as the federally recognised accreditor of law schools. Meanwhile, several Republican-led states, including Texas and Florida, have taken steps to reduce their reliance on ABA accreditation when determining eligibility for admission to the legal profession.
For Grand Canyon University, Arizona’s decision provides an opportunity to establish its programme while those wider changes unfold.
James Williams, the law school’s founding dean, welcomed the decision, saying the university appreciated the court’s willingness to consider a new approach to legal education. He expressed confidence that an alternative route to professional licensing could still uphold strong academic standards.
Graduates may face limits beyond Arizona
The state’s approval does not automatically open doors across the country. Under current licensing rules in many other states, aspiring attorneys must graduate from an ABA-accredited law school to qualify for admission to the bar.
As a result, graduates of Grand Canyon University’s programme would largely be restricted to practising in Arizona unless other jurisdictions change their requirements or provide alternative routes to eligibility. Some states have already begun reconsidering their existing rules.
The Arizona Supreme Court has also indicated that it will not consider applications from additional non-ABA-accredited law schools while it evaluates how the new arrangement performs.
Lawyer shortage drives the decision
Arizona’s move comes against a backdrop of limited access to legal services. A 2020 American Bar Association study found that the state had approximately 2.1 active attorneys per 1,000 residents, placing it alongside South Carolina and Arkansas among the states with the lowest lawyer-to-population ratios. The national average at the time was about four attorneys per 1,000 people.
The state has pursued other measures to expand its legal workforce. In 2024, the Arizona Supreme Court introduced the Arizona Lawyers Apprentice Program, which offers certain law graduates who narrowly miss passing the bar examination an alternative route to licensure.
Under that programme, eligible candidates can become licensed after completing two years of supervised legal work in rural communities or within government or nonprofit organisations.
A third law school for Arizona
Grand Canyon University announced its plans for the new institution in August, outlining a curriculum that would incorporate a Christian worldview alongside an emphasis on constitutional law, free-market principles and the rule of law.
Once operational, the school will join two existing institutions in the state: Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law. Both hold American Bar Association accreditation.
Arizona’s decision creates a new option for legal education at a time when the traditional accreditation system is facing increased scrutiny. Whether the approach will meaningfully expand access to lawyers—and whether other states will eventually recognise its graduates—remains to be seen.
