Recommended Best Practices for Admissions & Academic Records Maintenance in Law Schools

1. Recommended Best Practices for Admissions & Academic Records Maintenance in Law Schools presented by Chris Butzen, Registrar Loyola Law School Jerri Cunningham, Registrar Baylor Law School Ken Pokrowski, Assistant Dean of Academic Records & Research Fordham Law School Colleen Timmons, Assistant Dean, Academic Services Tulane University School of Law AACRAO - San Francisco 2013 Session 774

3. Recommended Best Practices for Admissions & Records Maintenance in Law Schools Purpose: The purpose of this policy is to ensure that necessary records and documents are adequately protected and maintained and to ensure that records that are no longer needed or of no value are discarded at the appropriate time. We should consider the following in developing a record retention policy: A record is deemed to have-- 1. Administrative value 2. Fiscal value 3. Legal value 4. Historical/research value If the retention period of a record exceeds five years, and especially if the retention period is to be either indefinite or permanent attention must be paid to the longevity and quality of the medium on which the record is stored.

4. Principles Governing Records Retention and Disposal • Keep as little as possible. • Do not keep copies of records that are maintained by an office that created the record. • Records retention policies and procedures for any particular record type must be consistent. • Records that identify a person are more subject to direct legal action than statistical or generic records; therefore, retention and disposal of these records require priority attention. • Records, which have been contested, should never be destroyed unless the ability to reconstruct them in legally acceptable form is preserved. The destruction of permanent records should cease once litigation commences. • Retention and disposal policies should include provisions for machine-readable records, which can be accessed only with specific technology. • Any record recommended for permanent retention should be imaged for security (current PDF). • The retention periods recommended above are based on the fact that essential data will be recorded on academic records which are retained permanently.

5. Electronic Discovery The majority of e-discovery is performed against email system and data. E-discovery has become the de facto standard for prima facie evidence and affirmative defense in litigation or investigative matters. One case custodian had to print over 200,000 emails. Email archiving solutions are a great way to manage your email. A good archiving solution will automatically keep what you want and remove what you do not want. Know what you own and where the data is stored, who has access and control of it, its value and, if there is no value why is it being kept? School value, statutory and regulatory requirements must drive the definition and ongoing maintenance of your retention policies. Do you review you electronic files as you did the hard-copy files Ensure that data that does not provide school value – or that is not subject to legal, compliance retention or preservation requirements – is disposed of quickly and properly. New source code – can it read the old source code? Save emails

6. Retention Schedule A: Admissions Data/Documents for Applicants Who Enter

7. Retention Schedule A: Admissions Data/Documents for Applicants Who Enter

8. Retention Schedule A: Admissions Data/Documents for Applicants Who Enter

9. Retention Schedule B: Student Academics Records

10. Retention Schedule B: Student Academics Records

11. Retention Schedule B: Student Academics Records

12. Retention Schedule B: Student Academics Records Disciplinary-action documents should be retained while in force and should be in a file separate from the student's academic records.

13. Retention Schedule C: Certification Data/Documents

14. Retention Schedule D: Publications, Statistical Data/Documents, and Institutional Reports

15. Retention Schedule D: Publications, Statistical Data/Documents, and Institutional Reports

16. Retention Schedule E: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Data/Docs

17. Retention Schedule F: Examinations

18. Retention Schedule F: Examinations

19. Retention Schedule G: Accreditation, LSSSE, ABA Annual Questionnaire, Law School Admissions Council

20. Retention Schedule G: Accreditation, LESSE, ABA Annual Questionnaire, Law School Admissions Council

22. Retention Schedule H: Student Data ABA Site Evaluation: Entering Students

23. Retention Schedule I: Student Data ABA Site Evaluation: Transfer Students

24. Retention Schedule J: Student Data ABA Site Eval: Readmitted Students

25. Retention Schedule K: Bar Passage Data – ABA Site Eva Combined first time results for Winter AND Summer administrations. This data must be provided for the most recently completed calendar year and the four prior calendar years. Total 5 calendar years. The school must account for at least 70% of its graduates who took the bar exam for the first time in each of the respective calendar years Determining 70% of first-time takers Total number of J.D. in most recent graduating class (Include August and December graduates from previous year) Number of most recent graduating class who did NOT take the bar exam in that year. Subtract B from A. Number of graduates who took the bar exam for the first time in the current year. After subtracting B from A, add C to the result. Multiply the result in C (A minus B plus C) by 70% (0.7)

26. Determining 70% of first-time takers - Example Total number of 2012 J.D. graduates = 250 Total number of 2012 J.D. graduates who did NOT take the bar exam = 30 Subtract 30 from 250 = 220 Number of previous year graduates (2011 and earlier) who DID take the bar exam for the first time in 2012 = 25 Add 25 to 220 = 245 70% of 245 = 172

27. Retention Schedule L: Course Data

28. Retention Schedule M:Regional Accreditors & State Law

29. References

30. Questions / Comments