Law Schools Embrace LSAT Alternatives Following SCOTUS Affirmative Action Ban

Reuters, Law Schools Embrace LSAT Alternatives After Affirmative Action Ban:

A growing number of law schools are experimenting with small-scale admissions programs that don’t rely on the Law School Admission Test — a move they hope will broaden their applicant pools and bolster diversity.

Georgetown University Law Center and Washburn University School of Law this month won American Bar Association approval to begin admitting some students without considering the LSAT, while the accrediting body also granted 14 more law schools permission to admit students through the fledgling JD-Next program — an eight-week series of online legal courses that culminates in an exam.

Altogether, 47 schools of the 197 ABA-accredited U.S. law schools have been cleared to use JD-Next in admissions this year.

Those programs come amid turmoil in college admissions and uncertainty about the LSAT. The ABA in 2022 moved to get rid of its longstanding requirement that law schools use the LSAT in admissions, only to pause that effort in May after many legal educators said the move would open the door for schools to admit students who are unlikely to graduate and pass the bar exam.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision banning race-conscious admissions has also prompted law schools to consider how to bring in diverse classes without taking race into account.