Values of the Society of American Law Teachers

The Rule of Law

SALT affirms the central role of the rule of law in preserving democratic governance, protecting rights, and ensuring fair legal processes. As legal educators, we recognize that the rule of law must be both taught and modeled within our institutions.

The rule of law provides frameworks through which all individuals are treated equally and fairly, and it ensures accountability for both the powerful and the powerless. SALT is particularly concerned with efforts to undermine judicial independence, defy constitutional norms, and politicize legal institutions. We support a legal education that emphasizes the necessity of a fair and impartial legal system as a safeguard against authoritarianism and injustice.

Antiracism

SALT is committed to antiracism as a guiding principle of our pedagogy, scholarship, and institutional engagement. This commitment requires more than merely opposing racism. It requires active efforts to dismantle structures and systems that perpetuate racial inequality.

Our members teach, write, and advocate with the explicit aim of naming and challenging white supremacy, institutional discrimination, and race-based exclusion in the legal profession and society. SALT recognizes that achieving true justice requires persistent and intentional work to confront racism in all its forms, particularly within legal education and practice.

Diversity

SALT views diversity not as an aspirational ideal but as a necessary condition for justice, excellence, and legitimacy in legal education and practice. Diversity enriches the classroom, challenges dominant paradigms, and helps ensure that future lawyers reflect the communities they serve.

SALT has long advocated for the recruitment, retention, and meaningful inclusion of law students, faculty, and administrators from historically excluded and underrepresented groups. We believe a truly diverse legal academy and profession better serves both clients and the cause of justice.

Equity

Equity is at the heart of SALT’s mission. It requires us to recognize that individuals do not begin from the same starting point and that systemic barriers have long prevented fair access to legal education and the legal profession.

SALT advocates for the removal of these barriers and the development of policies that support equity in admissions, hiring, promotion, and pedagogy. We understand equity as a corrective to centuries of exclusion and as essential to ensuring that the law serves the needs of all people, not just the privileged few.

Inclusion

Inclusion at SALT means more than representation. It means ensuring that all voices, particularly those historically marginalized, are heard, valued, and empowered. We affirm that inclusive environments are essential to nurturing a legal profession that respects difference and upholds human dignity.

SALT supports policies and practices that create equitable learning and working environments for faculty, students, and staff, particularly those from BIPOC, LGBTQ+, immigrant, and disabled communities. Inclusion demands institutional accountability, transparency, and cultural humility.

Social Justice

Social justice is a foundational value for SALT and animates every aspect of our work. We believe the law should be a tool for equity, liberation, and systemic change.

As legal educators, we are committed to preparing our students not merely to succeed in the legal profession, but to challenge injustice, represent underserved communities, and contribute to the transformation of society. SALT champions teaching, scholarship, and service that seek to eradicate inequality and affirm the dignity of every person.

Civil Rights and Civil Liberties for All

SALT’s advocacy is grounded in the belief that civil rights and civil liberties must be protected and expanded, especially in times of social and political retrenchment.

We support the full array of constitutional protections, including the rights to vote, protest, speak freely, practice religion, and access equal protection under the law as essential to a just society. SALT encourages legal education that not only teaches these rights but inspires students and faculty to fight for them, particularly for communities that have long been denied their full benefit.

The Obligation of Lawyers to Uphold the Constitution

SALT affirms that lawyers have a responsibility to uphold and defend the Constitution as a living promise of justice, liberty, and equality.

Legal educators play a critical role in instilling this obligation in the next generation of lawyers. In an era where constitutional norms are under attack, SALT emphasizes the lawyer’s role as guardian of democratic values, whether through litigation, advocacy, public service, or education. We reject any interpretation of lawyering that privileges power over principle.

Expanding Access to Justice

SALT recognizes the need to close the justice gap that results from the unavailability of legal counsel. As such, SALT supports the need for a national accreditor, which is vital to the portability of law degrees.

Currently, most jurisdictions allow any student who has graduated from an ABA-accredited school to sit for their bar. This permits such graduates to practice wherever they wish. Switching to a system of local or regional accreditation would severely limit the professional opportunities of students and graduates, with a corresponding negative impact on access to justice.

The ability to move freely between jurisdictions allows students and practitioners to serve communities of their choosing and not be limited to those communities where they attended law school. Those clients in rural communities are likely to suffer even more limited access to justice as fewer law schools are in these areas. Fewer law schools means fewer law students, and thus fewer lawyers available to serve these legal deserts.