Despite a rejection by the American Bar Association policymaking body, the ABA law school accrediting arm has decided to push forward with a major change in student admissions policies, voting again to eliminate the requirement that law school applicants have an admissions test score.
On February 6, the ABA House of Delegates (HOD) voted overwhelming by voice vote to reject the plan of the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar to implement the change for students entering law school for the 2026-27 school year. But on February 17 with one dissent, the council voted to move ahead with the revision in current accreditation Standards 501 (Admissions) and 503 (Admission Test).
The current Standard 503 requires a law school to have a test score for most applicants, and both the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) are recognized as "valid and reliable" tests under it. The revisions would allow each of the 196 ABA-approved law schools to determine for themselves whether to require a test score among other factors in the admissions process.
The idea of revising the standard has percolated for several years, in part triggered by the GRE emerging as an alternative to the LSAT in 2016. Subsequently, many law school deans asked for more flexibility in the requirement for a pre-admissions test. The revision was first formally proposed to the HOD in 2018 but withdrawn by the council.
The council, rather than the ABA per se, is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the national accreditor of the nation's law schools. Under ABA rules and procedures developed after a U.S. Department of Justice antitrust settlement with the ABA in 1995, the HOD can review a proposed change to the standards twice and concur, reject or make recommendations. But final decisions rest with the independent 21-member council.
The council decision likely means that the revision will go back to the HOD at its meeting in Denver in August. If the HOD rejects the proposal again, the council could move to enact the changes at its meeting in Chicago later that month.
