American Bar Association Rejects Proposal to Make the LSAT Optional in Law School Admissions

The American Bar Association has rejected a proposed revision to make the LSAT optional in law school admissions. The proposal was brought by the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions and called for eliminating the test requirement. The revision was rejected by the ABA House of Delegates at the organization’s midyear meeting in New Orleans on February 6.

Dean Paul Caron was one of sixty law school deans who submitted a comment letter requesting that the ABA reject the proposal and retain the accreditation requirement that all law students take the LSAT or GRE. The law deans argued that an unintended consequence of removing the requirement that JD applicants take a valid and reliable admissions test would be to diminish the diversity of law schools’ incoming classes.

More information may be found in the ABA Journal article, "Admissions test requirement for ABA-accredited law schools will remain in place for now."

The law deans letter may be found at TaxProf Blog