In response to Arizona’s shortage of attorneys, the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU will be offering new pathways to obtain a law education. They aim to reduce barriers for potential juris doctoral students and to make the career field more accessible.
Starting in 2026, the University will begin offering a test-optional pathway and a part-time, fully online option for a JD.
The American Bar Association reported that in 2024, there were just over two lawyers per 1,000 residents in Arizona, potentially dubbing the state a “legal desert” with the fourth-lowest ratio in the country.
However, there are only two law schools in Arizona – the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at the University and the James E. Rogers College of Law at UA, according to the American Bar Association. At the University, ideas to improve the accessibility of a law career have attracted interest from pre-law and law students.
The additions come amid changes to the law school admissions test, better known as the LSAT, which replaced the logic games with a second logical reasoning section last year.
According to the Law School Admissions Council, which develops and administers the LSAT, extensive research showed that the change “had virtually no impact on scoring.”
Penda Sisay, a pre-law senior studying justice studies and the president of the Black Undergraduate Law Society, has taken the LSAT twice already because she is planning to apply for the Fall 2026 cycle.
She said the test didn’t seem too much easier than what it could have been because its contents aren’t common knowledge.
“You have to take the time to make sure you learn all this material so you know it and can implement it to the best of your ability,” Sisay said.
María Blandón, the president of Aspiring Latino Lawyers at ASU and a pre-law sophomore studying political science and social justice and human rights, said the modifications to the LSAT generally don’t make it easier to get into law school because what really matters are he academics themselves.
“The goals of these changes are to make law school more accessible for students of different backgrounds,” Blandón said.
The change to the LSAT was made over a lawsuit brought by a blind test taker, who said the exam disadvantaged people with low vision or blindness.
Alex Higgins, a third-year law student focusing on environmental law and the president of the Environmental Law Society, said there are concerns about the test’s inaccessibility.
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“There are so many barriers to entry,” Higgins said. “The LSAT is absolutely one of them.”
He also said those barriers affect people from a lower socioeconomic status than most.
Jacob Martinez, a third-year law student going into commercial litigation and the president of both the Chicano/Latino Law Students Association and the Executive Moot Court Board at ASU Law, agreed with Higgins. He is attending law school on the ASU Achievement Program, which allows applicants who meet certain criteria to apply to the JD program without taking the LSAT.
The new test-optional pathway will be separate from the existing ASU Achievement Program, as it is intended to expand test-optional access to a wider pool of applicants who are chosen based on factors like community activities and academics.
“I’m really proud of ASU, as always, for being the pioneer at the law school … to try and address solutions in our community,” Martinez said.
Martinez also said some people pay thousands of dollars for LSAT resources and tutoring.
“If that’s the gauge, then are we really measuring a person’s ability to be a lawyer or to succeed in law school?” Martinez said. “Probably not.”
Higgins said the score you get on the LSAT is one of the only things that matters when applying to law school because it determines which schools you can attend or what scholarships you can get, and it even predicts first-year grades.
However, Rachel Miner, a second-year law student currently focused on health law and the president of both OUTLaw at ASU and the Health Law Society, said the law school application is “more than a test score.”
She said changing the LSAT wouldn’t attract fewer qualified candidates so much as it would diminish the advantage of those with preexisting privilege. A replacement to the exam needs to be merit-based, Miner added.
“Maybe the test is just more fair than it used to be,” Miner said.
Higgins agreed that merit needs to be used to admit students to law school, but he said he worries about attracting people who are unable to handle it because of how demanding it can be.
Higgins also said that regardless of who is accepted in the next cycle, it is common for students to drop out after the first year.
“I will always tell people straight up what it’s like,” Higgins said. “It is gonna suck, and the work is hard.”
Lillian Nelson, a second-year law student going into transactional corporate law, the president of the Women Law Students Association and associate editor of the Corporate and Business Law Journal, said her admissions process was about “presenting a cohesive package.”
“Knowing things from the first-year incoming class, it’s still very competitive,” Nelson, who is an admissions ambassador for ASU Law, said. “This is one of the highest cycle numbers we’ve ever seen.”
While Miner said the shortage of lawyers can improve graduating law students’ job prospects, others said competition is stiff for the most sought-after positions.
Higgins said careers as public defenders or prosecutors pay well and are important for the justice system but are unpopular among law students.
“There are law jobs that people don’t want,” Higgins said. “That’s the really tricky part, but we do need people to do them.”
Edited by Carsten Oyer, George Headley, Tiya Talwar and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at elbradfo@asu.edu and follow @emmalbradford__ on X.
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Emma BradfordLead Politics Reporter
Emma Bradford is a junior studying journalism and mass communication and political science with a minor in business. She has previously worked at the Cronkite News Washington, D.C. bureau as a Politics and Money Reporter. Bradford is in her fourth semester with The State Press and on the politics desk.
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