SALT Encourages ABA to Make LSAT Optional

The Society of American Law Teachers recently submitted comments to the American Bar Association on proposed amendments to Accreditation Standard 503, which currently mandates that law schools “require[] each applicant for admission as a first-year J.D. degree student to take a valid and reliable admission test.” As it has for decades, SALT urged the ABA to abandon this mandate, noting the “endemic misuse of the LSAT in law school admissions.”

“SALT cautions that the focus on the mandatory or optional status of a standardized admission test
obscures the real harm on which the ABA and law schools should be focused: the structural
oppression in America that substantially limits the opportunities of members of marginalized
communities to enter law school and the legal profession. A debate about the elimination or
continuance of an admission test fails to address the changes needed to create equity in the legal
profession.”

Find the full statement in PDF form here: SALT Statement on 503_September 1 2022