Dropping the LSAT Requirement Will Increase Law School Enrollment...Even More
During an economic downturn, recent graduates tend to look at continuing their education through a graduate program of some sort in hopes of either making themselves more marketable or waiting out the economy. Recently, articles have swarmed the internet about the realistic pitfalls of choosing such an avenue. Law schools in particular have been graduating more soon-to-be lawyers than they had in the past with an 11% increase in the past decade. Forty-three thousand J.D.’s were handed out in 2009, new law schools keep opening their doors, yet legal jobs keep diminishing at high rates.
Putting the ABA’s consideration of dropping the LSAT requirement into this context makes it all that more alarming. Although many argue that standardized tests are not a good indicator of what will make a successful lawyer, at the moment, it is one of the only indicators we have of what will make a good law student. The LSAT is not perfect but it may help weed out those willing to put in the effort of studying for the exam and applying to law school from those that are just looking for something else to do. Dropping this barrier at a time when the legal profession is overrun with applicants and lacking jobs is an irresponsible decision by the ABA.
As mentioned by Above the Law, respectable institutions will most likely keep the LSAT requirement. The fear is that the ones that will drop the requirement will lack the incentive to attract the most eligible students; instead accepting those that can afford the tuition. If the ABA regulated which schools were allowed to become law schools, dropping the LSAT requirement would not be so bad. But, as of now, it does not. As a result, the ones that will be taken for a ride will be 1Ls who pay a year’s tuition to realize that maybe law school wasn’t for them and newly minted lawyers who will be competing in an already saturated market. Even though these two problems already exist at some level, dropping the LSAT requirement will create a ripple effect that will exacerbate these issues.
