Clinical Legal Education Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
010670480
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
Location
Des Moines, IA, USA
Phone
5152711809
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Professional Societies, Associations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$73,005
Expenses
$42,223
Assets
$284,679

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kathryn Banks (CO-PRESIDENT)
  • Neha Lall (CO-PRESIDENT)
  • Jennifer Fernandez (CO-VICE PRESIDENT)
  • Sarah Wolking (CO-VICE PRESIDENT)
  • Gowri Krishna (IMMEDIATE PAST CO-PRESIDENT)
  • June Tai (IMMEDIATE PAST CO-PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • Kathryn Banks (CO-PRESIDENT)
  • Neha Lall (CO-PRESIDENT)
  • Jennifer Fernandez (CO-VICE PRESIDENT)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

CLEA exists to advocate for clinical legal education as fundamental to the education of lawyers. CLEA and its members seek to: foster excellent teaching and scholarship by clinical educators; integrate clinical teaching and extend its methods into the legal education program of every law school; reform legal education so as to prepare law students for excellent and reflective law practice; advance regulation of legal education that insures the continued vitality of clinical education in law schools; and pursue and promote justice and diversity as core values of the legal profession.

What it reported doing in 2025

In advancing the mission "to advocate for clinical legal education," CLEA serves as a voice for clinical teachers and represents their interests inside and outside the academy. As such, CLEA has been a vigorous advocate on matters relating to clinical teachers and clinical legal education over the years. CLEA plays a constant role monitoring and commenting on matters relevant to professors who teach in clinics and skills courses taken up by the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, its Council, its Standards Review Committee, and other relevant bodies.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 56
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 73
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 44.2%; rating input score 44
  • Program expense ratio: 76.4%; rating input score 76

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 42.2%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.74; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 44.2% of revenue deployed · 76.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $32K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 22 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 44/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.