Accreditation council votes to eliminate LSAT for 2025 application cycle
The change, approved by the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, would no longer require that law schools 'have a ‘valid and reliable’ test.'
60 deans warned against dropping the LSAT requirement in a September letter to the American Bar Association.
The American Bar Association (ABA) voted to eliminate the LSAT requirement for law school applicants.
The change, approved by the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, would no longer require that law schools “have a ‘valid and reliable’ test,” ABA’s news release, obtained by Campus Reform, read.
The new standards would apply to applicants for the “2025-26 admissions cycle for the 2026-27 entering class,” the statement confirmed. It will now be reviewed by the ABA House of Delegates, who will have “two opportunities to review [the] proposed change” and can reject, concur, or return the proposal with recommendations.
The Council will have final approval of the decision. The next HOD meeting is scheduled for February 2023.
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60 deans warned against dropping the LSAT requirement in a September letter to the ABA. The deans claimed that “without the LSAT as a factor, law schools may be less willing to take a chance on students who do not perform well on GPA or other metrics because they worked to put themselves through school, had to care for family, or other reasons.”
“We therefore believe that elimination of the LSAT as an admissions criterion could have undesirable effects on law school diversity that, directly contrary to what is intended by the proposed revisions to Standards 501 and 503,” the letter read.
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The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) Director of Communications Javier Maymí-Pérez told Campus Reform that “LSAT offers fair protection in trying to figure out if law school is right for [students], especially given its high cost and frequent debt burdens.”
“Furthermore, LSAT works with member schools to ensure the LSAT is used properly, as a part of a holistic admissions process.” he continued. “Properly used, the LSAT can be a powerful tool for diversity, by enabling test takers who may not have strong undergraduate GPAs, recommendations, or extra curricular activities to demonstrate their skills and potential to succeed in law school.”
Campus Reform contacted every organization and individual mentioned. This article will be updated accordingly.
