The LSAT still could be made optional for law schools. The council of the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar voted to resubmit a proposal to eliminate the test requirement for accredited law schools.
The ABA’s House of Delegates had previously rejected a similar proposed revision at their February midyear meeting. The council’s resubmission of the proposed revisions will be reviewed at the 2023 ABA Annual Meeting in August. If anything were to be approved, this change still wouldn’t affect students applying to law school before 2026.
The council also approved a suggestion to allow up to 50% of a law school’s credits to be offered online without special permission, which will be reviewed for comment. This is an increase from the current limit of one-third of required credit hours that can be granted through distance education without council approval under the existing version of Standard 311, according to reports from the ABA Journal.
Regarding the admissions test standards, the council’s strategic review committee suggested the proposal to remove the requirement, stating that more education needs to be done on the matter. Proposed revisions to law school accreditation standards and rules are sent to the House for concurrence up to two times, but the council has the final decision on matters related to law school education.
The proposed revision to allow more distance education credits has sprung from requests of law schools and students, as well as a U.S. Department of Education rule that only requires accreditor approval for programs with more than 50% of credits offered through distance education.
The proposal suggests cutting the standard’s 10-credit-hour limit for first-year distance education classes and adding language to Standard 306 which requires schools to use appropriate technology and provide appropriate support. The council has already granted substantive change or variance requests for online and hybrid JD programs at 13 law schools.
They also approved proposed revisions for clarification to Standard 307, which addresses studies and field placement outside the United States, as well as a proposed revision to Standard 509, which focuses on required disclosures.
The ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar recently surveyed nearly 1,400 third-year law students and found that nearly 69% want the opportunity to earn more distance education course credit than what their law school offered.
“While we should fine-tune outreach and relationship building, students attending online are learning just as much, equally satisfied and participating even more than those attending in person,” said Meera Deo, director of the Law School Survey of Student Engagement in a release.
Early last year, the Association of American Law Schools conducted a survey about how the pandemic changed legal education with responses from more than 400 law school deans.
Many deans agreed that online learning and remote work arrangements were a boon to their students. They also praised the flexibility and accessibility of online classes, as well as the elimination of the need to cancel classes due to inclement weather and other setbacks.
