In a significant shift within the American legal education system, almost a quarter of all American Bar Association-accredited law schools have received clearance to substitute the traditional Law School Admissions Test or the Graduate Record Exam with the JD-Next admission test, in a variance to Standard 503.
This shift was enabled by a decision in June by the Council of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions. This decision sprung open the gates for schools to embrace the JD-Next exam, an option which by September had been adopted with a variance granted to 32 law schools, inclusive of the prestigious University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.
The use of JD-Next as admission criteria, can redefine the landscape of law school admissions, potentially altering how aspiring attorneys frame their law school ambitions. The impact of these changes would become clearer as more law schools potentially adopt the JD-Next exam as their preferred admission test.
For more details on the progression and potential implications of this development, the original report can be accessed here.