TUCSON (CN) — The nonprofit that controls the LSAT law school admission test said that, "barring other substantial developments," it will not punish the University of Arizona for its decision to accept the GRE graduate school entry exam from law school applicants.
The University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law in February became the nation's first law school to accept either the GRE or the LSAT from applicants.
Marc Miller, Dean of the UA law school, said Monday that the decision to accept the GRE is one of several innovations the school has made to expand its pool of applicants. Miller said most law schools place too much emphasis on standardized test scores.
"Why don't we care about what impact you will have your society or how well will you serve your clients, or how much justice will you do, or will this be a rewarding profession, or will you serve people who otherwise are underserved — an issue that the profession repeatedly says is a fundamental goal?" Miller said in an interview.
"Instead we have an admissions process to law school whose regulations and then whose applications — in this case the processes developed by LSAC — have us putting immense weight ... on a prediction of just how quickly you'll pick up legal reasoning, legal analysis and procedure, and how that will be reflected in your first-year grades. It's crazy."
The decision inspired debate about the role of innovation in law school admissions.
The UA said that a 2015 study by Educational Testing Service "demonstrated that, for students in Arizona Law's JD program, performance on the GRE General Test is a valid and reliable predictor of students' first-term law school grades, and so meets the American Bar Association's Legal Education Standard for use in admissions to law school programs."
After comparing the GRE and LSAT scores of current UA students and graduates with their grades in law school, the study showed that the GRE's assessment of verbal and quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing is just as good as the LSAT at predicting law school success, the school said.
In response to the UA's new policy, general counsel for the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), which controls the LSAT, notified the school in an April 4 letter that it may be violating the nonprofit's rule that "substantially all of" a law school's applicants take the LSAT.
The letter said the LSAC would consider whether UA "is eligible to continue to be a member."
Viewing the LSAC letter as a threat to pull UA's membership, 148 law school deans signed a statement last week urging LSAC President Daniel Bernstine to let UA "experiment," and to change the bylaw requiring the LSAT. The deans said they would request a special meeting of the admissions council if it revoked UA's membership.