Law School Admission Project: Looking Beyond the LSAT
This project aims to create a new law school admission test. Using data collected over a number of years from thousands of law school alumni, the new test battery seeks to predict who will be effective in law and law-related jobs.
Now in its sixth and final year of research, the project could improve law school admission practices, select better legal professionals, and increase the racial diversity of law school student bodies. Funded for the past five years by the LSAC and by other foundations and private donors, the project is led by co-investigators Boalt Professor Marjorie Shultz and Sheldon Zedeck, a psychology professor at Berkeley whose field is employment assessment, testing and prediction. To learn more about this study, please consult the articles listed below.
Key Information on Participation in the Study
Boalt and Hastings Graduates from the classes of 1973 to 2005 and 2L and 3L Boalt students are the only ones to participate in this initial test. They will soon receive an email invitation with the subject line “Important Research: Beyond the LSAT,” which will invite participation in an on-line test to assess the validity of newly created test instruments. Please retain this email; it will contain unique individual UserIDs and passwords.
If a Boalt or Hastings alum willing to take the test does not receive an invitation, please contact Joseph Plaster at jplaster@law.berkeley.edu.
Graduates of Other Law Schools may be asked to prepare performance appraisals related to the test.
The Test. Test volunteers will be asked to respond to a test battery and to identify supervisors and peers who know the volunteer's work and can evaluate the test-taker's performance on a broad range of factors identified in earlier phases of the research.
Time Required. This on-line test should take two hours or less to complete. Test-takers may enter and leave the website as needed.
Confidentiality of Data. Information obtained from/about individuals is for research only and will be kept confidential. (Nothing will be shared with employers or schools).
MCLE Credit. Completion of the test and self–evaluation allows 2 units of general self-study credit. Additional linked reading and quiz allows 1 “elimination of bias” self-study credit.
Important Research Contribution. Test volunteers will contribute to very important research that has the potential to change the legal landscape by broadening the definition of what constitutes merit for purposes of admission to law school.
Optional Report on Strengths and Shortcomings. Test volunteers will receive an optional confidential report on career-relevant strengths and weaknesses based on responses to a personality inventory that is widely used in predicting on-the-job effectiveness.
For more information about the Law School Admission Project, please consult the following documents:
We urge you to participate in this ground-breaking research that has the potential to improve law school admission practices and increase the racial diversity of law school student bodies by taking account of many more dimensions of merit than current admission methods do. For this important research to succeed, having a large number of participants is critical. If you are a Boalt or Hastings alum, the invitation will come soon: please volunteer.
Chris Edley, Jr., Dean Boalt Hall School of Law
Thelton Henderson, Senior Judge, USDC
I am privileged to address you as the first female of color President of The Bar Association of San Francisco. Having practiced law for 22 years, I have seen that for lawyers in firms and corporate settings, success has much to do with traits like tenacity, perseverance, hope, communication, inner strength, and commitment. Please notice that nowhere in that list is the term, "LSAT score."
The Bar Association of San Francisco has a proud, long, and rich tradition of commitment to diversity. We have learned, through careful empirical study since 1989, that diversity is not only the “right thing;" it also makes business sense. Many believe that companies that survive and thrive will be those who understand the power of diversity in everything they do. Our demographics are changing and the economy is globalizing -- diversity is in our lives, like it or not.
I urge each of you to take a few moments out of your very busy lives to help give those behind you the opportunity to practice the noble profession of law. By participating in this research, you can assist and encourage those who will make effective lawyers (but who, under current policies, might never be admitted to law school) to pursue the career of their dreams.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and even bigger thanks to those of you who complete the survey.
Joan Haratani
2006 BASF President
Dear Boalt and Hastings Graduates:
Having been responsible for Boalt Hall's admission program for ten years, I can attest that admission decision making is always a challenge, not only because it decides who tomorrow's lawyers will be, but because there are so many good applicants and so few factors to distinguish one from another. Over-reliance on the LSAT has increased as law schools' rank higher in the national rankings consulted by applicants. During my years as Associate Executive Director at the Law School Admission Council, I worked with admission deans throughout the country who often regularly and strongly expressed their wish for better measurement tools. Thus, Professor Shultz's efforts to develop improved measures of law school readiness and of lawyering potential receives my strong support. It is a project of enormous value to the legal community and, with your support, it will succeed. We need many volunteers. I urge your full cooperation from everyone asked to participate.
Beth Cobb O'Neil
It's not often that you have a chance to participate in a project with this much laudable ambition -- or this much potential to impact and improve a profession or an industry. Professors Shultz and Zedeck have worked extensively with practicing attorneys to identify factors that are important to effective lawyering -- and are now taking the next steps in trying to learn how best to assess these factors. In my view, this can only help us as lawyers and as members of a profession. How can it not help us to know more about what makes effective lawyering -- or how to detect or measure it? Think about how much money and time we invest -- or should be investing -- to recruit talent to our organizations. Think about how much money and time we invest – or should be investing -- to assess, nurture, and develop the talent already at our organizations. Think about how much money and time we invest -- or should be investing -- to improve the diversity of our organizations. The types of insights that Professors Shultz and Zedeck are developing can help us, directly and indirectly. Their immediate goal is to develop tests that may be useful as part of the law-school admissions process. I encourage and beseech you to volunteer your time. I know your time is precious, but this is a small investment for the potential payback.
