The National Federation for the Blind has added four California law schools to a suit filed last year against the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). The suit claims that LSAC’s online application system violates the Americans With Disabilities Act and other state disability laws because it is not accessible to the blind.
LSAC’s online application system compiles information including academic transcripts and LSAT scores in order to make it easier to submit applications to multiple law schools. The system is not compatible with software that vocalizes visual information or displays it in Braille for blind users, preventing blind applicants from using the system independently. The suit claims that LSAC’s online application system discriminates against blind applicants for this reason.
The amended suit seeks damages from the LSAC, as well as an injunction providing that the online application be made accessible to the blind. The four law schools named in the suit — Chapman University School of Law, Whittier Law School, Thomas Jefferson School of Law and the University of California Hastings College of Law — are said to be violating the law by using LSAC’s application system.
“These schools have an obligation to be accessible in the services they offer,” said Daniel Golstein, one of the attorneys representing the federation, in a statement to The National Law Journal.
Still, representatives from the mentioned law schools are unsure as to why they are being singled out.
“Almost all law schools use the Law School Admissions Council application process, and Chapman University has no idea why it has been singled out to be joined to the dispute between these two parties,” reads a statement release by Chapman University.
In addition to their suit against the LSAC, the advocacy group has also been pushing the National Conference of Bar Examiners to make the multi-state bar exam accessible to the blind.
