Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law

THE PERSONAL STATEMENT IS OPTIONAL AT LMU LAW. This is the most consequential fact in the file and it is genuinely rare -- across the schools curated so far, only Cooley's letters and Barry's résumé come close, and no other school in this dataset makes the personal statement itself optional. 'As an applicant, you can attach a personal statement and/or any other addenda. While not required, these documents would assist the Committee with understanding you as an applicant. The document(s) could expand further on responses you provided in your application or they may provide additional information you want the Committee to consider.' Recorded required false on the school's own words. Read the sentence carefully before acting on it: the statement is not required, but the school says it would help, and the committee's published factor list reaches well beyond numbers -- 'community service; extra-curricular or co-curricular activities; evidence of a strong work ethic and maturity; military service; employment history' -- none of which an application form captures well. The practical reading is that LMU has removed a formal requirement, not the reason to write one. NO PROMPT, NO LENGTH, NO PAGE COUNT AND NO FORMAT IS PUBLISHED, which follows from it being optional. No why-LMU question, perspective statement or optional essay is published anywhere, so those types are omitted rather than recorded as absent.

Verified 2026-09-15 · source page

ADDENDA CARRY MORE WEIGHT HERE THAN AT MOST SCHOOLS, because the personal statement is optional and this is the main published route for anything the form does not capture: 'you can attach a personal statement and/or any other addenda. While not required, these documents would assist the Committee.' No length or format is set. TWO SPECIFIC USES ARE NAMED. First, a score-change explanation: 'In the event your LSAT score changes by four or more points over time, we strongly encourage you to attach an addendum explaining why you think the change occurred.' Second, character and fitness, which is mandatory when triggered: 'If you answered 'yes' to any question in the Character and Fitness section of your application, you must provide detailed information for each answer. If your answer does not fit in the space provided, you can attach explanations to your application when it is submitted. If you need to update an answer or add supplemental information, you can send an addendum to law.admissions@LMUnet.edu.' A formatting instruction most schools omit: 'Please include the question number(s) and question(s) to which you are responding should you need to explain further.' LMU'S FRAMING IS REASSURING AND DIRECTIVE AT ONCE, and worth quoting in full for anyone deciding how much to disclose: 'Because of stringent character and fitness qualifications for admission to the bar, we require full disclosure in response to all questions. Failure to disclose information often results in a more serious outcome than the matter itself would have produced had the applicant initially disclosed it.' And: 'Answering 'yes' to any question does not automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for admission. The Admission and Scholarship Committee would like the opportunity to review all relevant facts, including (but not limited to) the issue(s); offense(s); date(s) of the offense(s); the law enforcement agency involved; and disposition, including fine(s), court costs, or other penalties.' The bar warning follows: 'Similar questions will be asked of you when you apply for admission to the bar, so candor and full disclosure are essential.' Required is false because every use is conditional.

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EITHER TEST, AND JD-NEXT IS REFUSED BY NAME -- an explicit denial of the kind docs/CURATION.md asks to be recorded as such rather than left to silence: 'For August 2027 admission, LMU Law will accept either the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) or the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) as part of the admission process. While we offer an optional pre-matriculation program to our incoming students, we do not accept JD Next as an alternative admissions test.' Note the construction -- LMU runs its own pre-matriculation programme and is drawing a line between that and JD-Next as an admissions test. NO ONE-WAY RULE IS PUBLISHED: unlike Charleston, Elon and High Point, LMU does not say that an LSAT score displaces a GRE score, so the two appear to be genuine alternatives here. The 509 bears out that the GRE route is real and small: 4 GRE admissions enrollees against 159 LSAT enrollees, and notably all four were in the part-time/hybrid programme. THE SCORE-CHANGE ADDENDUM IS A SPECIFIC INVITATION worth acting on: 'In the event your LSAT score changes by four or more points over time, we strongly encourage you to attach an addendum explaining why you think the change occurred. This will contextualize your performance on the test as well as provide the Committee with a better understanding of why the highest score should be considered the most valid indicator of your capacity.' That sentence also reveals the school's working assumption -- the highest score is the one it wants to rely on -- without stating a formal highest-score rule. NO MINIMUM SCORE is published. WHAT THE SCORE SITS ALONGSIDE: 'While the cumulative undergraduate GPA and either LSAT or GRE score are the most traditional factors determining admission, we will also consider letters of recommendation; academic performance; community service; extra-curricular or co-curricular activities; evidence of a strong work ethic and maturity; military service; employment history; and an ability to contribute to the diversity of the LMU Law community.'

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CAS IS REQUIRED AND LMU PUBLISHES ITS ACTUAL COST, which almost no school does: 'The fee to register for the Credential Assembly Service for the Fall 2027 admission cycle is $219', plus 'a Law School Report for each law school to which he/she applies. The current cost of the fall 2027 admission cycle is $45.' Against a $0 application fee, that is the real price of applying here, and the school is unusually straightforward about it. EVERY INSTITUTION SINCE HIGH SCHOOL, AND HIGH SCHOOL TOO IF AP CREDIT IS INVOLVED: 'An official transcript from each educational institution attended since high school must be sent from each institution directly to the Credential Assembly Service... If you received Advanced Placement (AP) credit(s) for courses taken in high school, then you must submit your high school transcript(s) to the Credential Assembly Service as well.' The AP rule is easy to miss and is named by few schools. Approved electronic providers are listed by name: Parchment, National Student Clearinghouse, Scrip-Safe and Credential Solutions. TRANSCRIPTS MUST BE REFRESHED WHILE STILL ENROLLED: 'If you are an undergraduate student when you submit your transcripts to the Credential Assembly Service, you must update (resubmit) transcripts from any schools where you have taken classes since they were initially submitted.' And after graduating: 'you will need to submit a final official transcript from the institution where you earned your bachelor's degree. The degree received and the date it was conferred must appear on the final transcript.' The school's full policy lives in an 'Admission Policies and Procedure Manual' linked from the page.

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'LMU Law requires at least two letters of recommendation. Your letters of recommendation should be submitted directly to the Credential Assembly Service through a link it sends to each individual making a recommendation.' 'At least two' sets a floor with no published ceiling, so no count_accepted is recorded. NO RESTRICTION ON WHO MAY WRITE, stated expansively -- and note that acquaintances are expressly allowed, which several schools in this dataset rule out: 'There are no specific requirements as to who should write them, such as a professor, employer, acquaintance, etc.; however, they should explain in detail how they know you and the traits they have observed that lead them to recommend you for law school.' THE ASSIGNMENT STEP IS THE TRAP, AND LMU SHOUTS ABOUT IT: 'Once the letters are received by the Credential Assembly Service, you must assign each letter to each school you want to receive them. They will not be assigned automatically. If you fail to assign both of them to each school, then your file will remain INCOMPLETE until they are assigned by you.' That matters more here than at most schools, because the part-time/hybrid programme reviews only complete files in batches -- an unassigned letter does not delay a read, it pushes the application into the next batch.

Verified 2026-09-15 · source page

'LMU Law requires at least two letters of recommendation. Your letters of recommendation should be submitted directly to the Credential Assembly Service through a link it sends to each individual making a recommendation.' 'At least two' sets a floor with no published ceiling, so no count_accepted is recorded. NO RESTRICTION ON WHO MAY WRITE, stated expansively -- and note that acquaintances are expressly allowed, which several schools in this dataset rule out: 'There are no specific requirements as to who should write them, such as a professor, employer, acquaintance, etc.; however, they should explain in detail how they know you and the traits they have observed that lead them to recommend you for law school.' THE ASSIGNMENT STEP IS THE TRAP, AND LMU SHOUTS ABOUT IT: 'Once the letters are received by the Credential Assembly Service, you must assign each letter to each school you want to receive them. They will not be assigned automatically. If you fail to assign both of them to each school, then your file will remain INCOMPLETE until they are assigned by you.' That matters more here than at most schools, because the part-time/hybrid programme reviews only complete files in batches -- an unassigned letter does not delay a read, it pushes the application into the next batch.

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OPTIONAL, AND NOT EVEN ENCOURAGED -- LMU mentions it in a single clause among other discretionary attachments: 'You can also attach your resume and other documents if you wish; however, they are not required.' No content guidance, page limit or format is published. Worth weighing against the committee's stated factors, several of which -- 'military service; employment history; evidence of a strong work ethic and maturity' -- are exactly what a résumé evidences and what the application form is least likely to capture. Recorded required false on the school's words; the practical advice runs the other way.

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NO APPLICATION FEE. LMU's admissions pages never mention one in either direction; the school's 2025 ABA Standard 509 certifies 'Application fee $0', so the filing is the source and is cited as such. No waiver process is published, which follows from there being nothing to waive. THE REAL COST OF APPLYING IS LSAC'S, AND LMU IS ONE OF THE FEW SCHOOLS THAT PRINTS THE FIGURES: 'The fee to register for the Credential Assembly Service for the Fall 2027 admission cycle is $219', and 'the applicant must pay a Law School Report for each law school to which he/she applies. The current cost of the fall 2027 admission cycle is $45.' So applying here costs $264 through LSAC and nothing to the school. That candour is worth noting: most schools advertise a free application without mentioning the CAS subscription that makes it possible.

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