Reducing barriers to graduate and professional education may reduce racial inequities in high-status professions. In 2020, one-quarter of law schools accepted the GRE in place of the LSAT, reflecting an effort across educational domains to revisit standardized test requirements. We use a generalized difference-in-differences design to investigate…

Standardized tests have been increasingly controversial over recent years in high-stakes admission decisions. Their role in operationalizing definitions of merit and qualification is especially contested, but in law schools this challenge has become particularly intense. Law schools have relied on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and an INDEX…

While the nature and causes of university grade inflation have been extensively studied, little empirical research on the consequence of this phenomenon is currently available. The present study uses data for 48 US law schools to analyze admission decisions in 1995, 2000, and 2007, a period during which university grade inflation appears to have…

As director of the Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic at the Columbia University Law School, law professor Conrad Johnson knows that digital technology has the power to highlight and amplify social justice concerns and to enable people to take direct action. Under Johnson's leadership, the clinic has developed and maintained the Columbia-hosted…

After discussing the merits of the law school admissions process, including analyzing the racial subjectivity inherent in the administration of the Law School Admission Test and its corresponding effect on racial diversity in the law school admissions process, suggests an alternative admissions process that attempts to identify the unique merits…

Preparation for and admission to law school is challenging for many students. For a number of years law schools have used criteria for admission that included school rankings and testing. Schools have been ranked by "The U. S. News and World Report" magazine and potential students have been tested with the Law School Admission Test…

A multiple-form structure (MFS) is an ordered collection or network of testlets (i.e., sets of items). An examinee's progression through the network of testlets is dictated by the correctness of an examinee's answers, thereby adapting the test to his or her trait level. The collection of paths through the network yields the set of all possible…

Article considered the Supreme Court case involving Marco DeFunis, Jr., a student attempting to gain admission to law school, and the discriminatory attitudes of law school admissions officers contrasted with the legal opinion of Justice William O. Douglas. (RK)

Law School Admissions Tests (LSAT), bar examinations, and legal clinic courses in law schools, the author holds, influence legal education toward technical proficiency and away from the mind-expanding traditional role of liberal arts. "Where are we going?" gives way to "How fast can we get there?" (JT)

The question of possible racial bias in the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), the issue crucial to future tests of the constitutionality of preferential admissions, is explored with the conclusion that uncertainties in this area should not overshadow the necessity for reexamination of law school admission criteria. (JT)

This is the final report and critique which investigated the law school admissions process, and especially the role of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) within that process, for possible bias against minority applicants. The study involved the reanalysis of existing data. Results show that current admission policies unfairly limit the…

Learning-disabled college graduates' entry into professional schools has raised numerous legal issues concerning their matriculation qualifications, need for accommodations, and eventual ability to practice successfully. Discusses each issue in a legal education context, following an explanation of learning disabilities and the federal statutes…

Problems in the validity and usefulness of the Law School Admission Test in selecting appropriate candidates for law school admission are detailed. The history of the test's development and controversy over its use are discussed. Available from Law Student Division, American Bar Association, 1155 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637; $1.00. (MSE)

Use of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and undergraduate grade point average for members of minority groups are examined in relationship to recent LSAT studies and related research on admissions tests and test bias. Traditional predictors of law school grades were found to be as accurate for minority as for majority persons. (JT)