ABA panel moves to make admissions test optional

The law school accrediting body of the American Bar Association has approved for public comment a proposal that would allow schools the choice of whether to have an admissions test score for incoming law students.

The Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar accepted on May 20 the recommendation of its Strategic Review Commission to invite comments related to ending a required “valid and reliable” pre-admissions test now ingrained in the law school application process.

The Law School Admissions Test, or LSAT, is the most popular test although the Graduate Record Examinations, or GRE, has gained traction in the past few years.

The proposal tracks a recommendation made by the council in 2018 that was withdrawn before an ABA House of Delegates (HOD) vote in the face of stiff opposition, including concerns that it would have a discriminatory effect against minorities who might not have had a good undergraduate grade-point average.

Since then, the environment for pre-admissions tests has changed significantly, and proponents of law school choice say the tests themselves have a discriminatory effect on some minority students.

“There are lot of other guardrails in place, including our own standards, so that law schools will not allow the elimination of the (admissions) test to threaten diversity,” said Daniel Thies, an Illinois attorney who co-chairs the committee making the recommendation.

Under the proposed changes, a law school would have to annually assess its admission policies and practices for their compliance with several standards that take into consideration the school’s bar pass rates, student attrition and diversity and inclusion efforts.

Because of the high interest in the proposal, the public comment period, formally known as Notice and Comment, will be for 90 days rather than the usual 30-day period.

The earliest any changes to the admission tests standards could be considered by the HOD would be at the 2023 Midyear Meeting in February, and the earliest they could affect incoming law students would be fall of that year.

Under ABA rules and procedures, the HOD can review a proposed change to a standard twice, but final approval rests with the council, which is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the nation’s sole accreditor for 196 law schools. In that capacity, the council acts independently of the ABA.