Tipping Sacred Cows: Barriers to Entry in the Legal Field Begin to Fall

Sep 4, 2026

The article examines major 2017 shifts in how people gain entry to legal education and practice, focusing on easing barriers that once limited access to law schools. It details the move away from the LSAT as the exclusive admissions test, describing how some institutions began accepting the GRE and how these changes may expand. It compares the LSAT and GRE formats and scoring validity, highlighting debates among testing bodies and concerns about reliability and predictive value.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Barriers to entering the legal field

Shift away from the LSAT

GRE acceptance and institutional impact

Controversy: LSAT vs GRE validity

Test structure and scoring comparisons

THOMSON REUTERS Tipping sacred cows: Barriers to entry in the legal field begin to fall By Martin Pritikin, Concord Law School NOVEMBER 9, 2017 Law is not a field known for its willingness to embrace change. However, 2017 saw some important changes—on a scale not seen in decades — in the way people enter law school and are admitted to practice law. These trends will likely accelerate in the coming year and beyond as dissatisfaction with existing models increases. BARRIERS TO ENTERING LAW SCHOOL One of the biggest developments in legal education in 2017 was the sudden shift away from the Law School Admission Test as the exclusive entrance exam for law schools. There are over 200 law schools accredited by the American Bar Association. For decades, every one of them used the LSAT as their main criterion for admitting students. In fact, ABA accreditation standards require law schools to justify using an admissions test other than the LSAT. The first salvo in the battle over law school admissions exams was launched in early 2016, when the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona announced its plans to launch a pilot program that would admit a limited number of students based on their performance on the GRE graduate school entry exam, the standardized admissions test used by a variety of graduate programs other than law. In response, the Law School Admission Council, which administers the LSAT, initially threatened to revoke the University of Arizona’s membership.The LSAC, however, backedoffwhenthedeansofnearly 150 ABA law schools signed a letter defending U of A’s right to experiment and implying that the LSAC’s proposed action raised antitrust concerns. It wasn’t until April 2017—over a year after U of A’s announcement—that a second law school decided it, too, would accept the GRE. And it wasn’t just any law school; it was Harvard. This move by one of the most prestigious institutions in the legal academy appears to have opened the floodgates. Within the next six months, five more law schools announced they would accept the GRE, including top-tier schools like Georgetown, Northwestern and, most recently, Columbia. In a survey conducted by Kaplan Test Prep in September, a quarter of responding law schools’ admissions officers indicated plans to accept the GRE within the coming year. That means as many as 50 more law schools may use the GRE in 2018. The ABA has taken notice. It has released for public notice and comment several potential proposals to omit the preference for the LSAT and permit any admissions test that is “valid and reliable.”The infighting and hand wringing may be interesting to watch, but is there really a meaningful difference between the LSAT and GRE, and why is the shift important or at least controversial? Facially, it is much ado about nothing. The LSAT, promulgated by LSAC, and the GRE, administered by Educational Testing Service, share some basic similarities. One of the biggest developments in legal education in 2017 was the sudden shift away from the LSAT as the exclusive entrance exam for law schools. They were created a year apart, in 1948 and 1949, respectively. The LSAT lasts three hours and 30 minutes, and features scaled scores on a range of 120 to 180. The GRE lasts three hours and 45 minutes, and it is scored on a 130-170 scale. The LSAC has reported a validity correlation of about 0.40 between LSAT scores and first-year law school grades,1 while other studies have found a similar correlation of 0.30 to 0.45 between the GRE and both first-year and overall graduate GPA.2 The LSAT has three main graded components: logical reasoning, reading comprehension and analytical reasoning. The latter is also known as the notorious “games” section, with prompts like, “Al, Betty, Charles and David all went to a party. Al sat next to the guest with the green shirt.…” The GRE, too, has three main graded components: verbal reasoning, quantitative reason

FAQs

What major change in 2017 affected law school admissions exams?

Many law schools began shifting away from the LSAT as the sole entrance exam and considering the GRE as an alternative admissions test.

Why did the University of Arizona’s GRE pilot program create controversy?

The initial reaction involved threats from the LSAT administering body, but nearly 150 ABA law school deans defended the university’s right to experiment, implying antitrust concerns.

How do the LSAT and GRE differ in format and what do they assess?

The LSAT includes logical reasoning, reading comprehension, and analytical reasoning (including the “games” section), while the GRE includes verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and analytical writing with issue and argument tasks.

Sep 4, 2026

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