At the Hale Center, we offer the critical components every student should know as they consider preparing to apply to law school, including educating students on the following:

The Law School Admission Council (LSAC)

The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to supplying students with the necessary tools to ease the admission process for law school applicants. LSAC currently comprises 222 law schools in the United States, Canada, and Australia. All schools approved by the American Bar Association are LSAC members.

LSAC not only assists students with the application process, but also collects an applicant’s required documentation (LSAT score, LSAT writing sample, letters of recommendation, and transcripts) and uses this information to create a Law School Report that is forwarded to law schools upon the school’s request. The system used to transfer these documents is referred to as CAS, the Credential Assembly Service.

Once the applicant has completed the law school application specific to each institution, the school will then request a Law School Report for the applicant from LSAC. A law school application file is not considered complete until it contains a Law School Report, which provides the institution a detailed breakdown of LSAT scores, GPA, LSAT writing sample(s), transcripts and letters of recommendation. To better understand the link between LSAC, CAS, and the Law School Report students can visit www.lsac.org/jd/apply/cas-law-school-reports.asp.

Students are encouraged to explore LSAC services by creating an account. This will give access to test preparation materials, LSAT registration, and LSAC’s Credential Assembly Service. Applicants should become comfortable with the LSAC site.

Law School Admissions Test

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a 3 1/2 hour standardized test that consists of reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning questions. The purpose of the LSAT is to show law schools that applicants possess skills in each of the areas that are essential to a student’s success in law school.

The LSAT is an integral part of the law school admission process and is required on all applications. The test is administered four times each year through LSAC at designated testing centers.

Divided into five 35-minute sections of multiple-choice questions, the LSAT focuses on five specific sections that have been allocated accordingly: 

(1) Reading Comprehension Section
(2) Analytical Reasoning Section
(3) Two Logical Reasoning Sections

In addition to these four sections is an unscored fifth section that would complete the multiple-choice questions. The unscored section, also known as the variable section, typically is used to pretest new test questions or prepare new test forms. This section of the test will not be disclosed until you receive your results. The placement of each section throughout the test will be spastic and vary based on the test. Furthermore, a 35-minute, unscored writing sample is administered at the end of the test. The unscored writing sample is sent to each law school as part of the application.

The LSAC describes the design of the LSAT to be, “to measure skills that are considered essential for success in law school: the reading and comprehension of complex texts with accuracy and insight; the organization and management of information and the ability to draw reasonable inferences from it; the ability to think critically; and the analysis and evaluation of the reasoning and arguments of others.”

All students should only take the LSAT once they feel fully prepared.

The test is administered four times a year leaving flexibility for students who do not feel fully prepared. Students who have selected a test date should begin preparing 6-9 months prior to the test date.

Students are able to access free LSAT preparation materials through the Pre-Law Moodle site. These preparation materials include sample questions with explanations, test preparation videos, the ability to familiarize yourself with test instructions and question types, and practice tests. The use of these materials is highly encouraged.

In addition to the materials needed to complete a Law School Report, law schools require further documentation. The most commonly requested documents are personal statements, resumes and an addendum. Each of these documents offer law schools to examine the student as a whole.

Students can view the typically-required application materials and how to draft those documents in the Pre-Law Moodle site.