The American Bar Association should lift its ban on giving academic credit to students at accredited law schools for paid legal work they do for private employers, the New York City Bar Association contends.

City bar President Debra Raskin said the ABA's prohibition conflicts with the widely recognized goal of law schools producing “practice-ready” graduates. Its abandonment would make law school a more viable option for some students in an age of declining applications and rising costs, she said.

“We respectfully recommend that the ABA eliminate this prohibition completely and allow a student who works for an employer in an approved program to receive both academic credit and compensation,” Raskin said in a letter to the ABA released by the city bar Thursday.