American Bar Association May Eliminate Standardized Tests for Admissions

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A committee within the American Bar Association recommended late last month that law schools eliminate the requirement of “a valid and reliable admission test” as part of their admission process.

Its memo added, however, “Law schools of course remain free to require a test if they wish.”

The recommendation was made on April 25 by the Strategic Review Committee, four years after another group, the A.B.A.’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, approved similar changes to its standards for rules and admissions. {snip}

“Issues concerning admission policies have been of concern to the council for several years,” Bill Adams, the managing director of accreditation and legal education for the A.B.A., said in a statement.

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The committee’s recommendation follows a trend at some elite colleges and universities, which have waived standardized testing requirements amid criticism that wealthier students have advantages such as the ability to afford prep coaching. Last May, leaders of the University of California system voted to eliminate test score requirements permanently, and Harvard will remain test-optional at least through fall 2026, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.

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Some law school deans have, in recent years, questioned the use of the traditional Law School Admission Test, viewing the standardized exam as an impediment to reaching new groups of potential applicants who could become law students. In 2016, the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law began accepting applicants who had taken only the more general GRE graduate admissions exam instead of the LSAT.

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Two years later, the council of the A.B.A. proposed changing the standards to make test scores an optional part of the admissions process.

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