Legal Commentary

law school created monopolies

By Lawrence Lessig

To get into law school, most require you take the LSAT. That test is administered by LSAC, a nonprofit corporation established to administer the tests.

But to get copies of the old tests to prepare for the exam, a student has got to purchase the tests through a test prep company -- a company that sells test preparation courses.

According to Steve Schwartz of the LSAT Blog, LSAC receives $194 for each student who receives a full set of the exams. As Schwartz puts it, "[w]hen LSAC has prep companies do the printing, that $194 is pure profit, baby." LSAC simply provides the PDFs.

This isn't an ordinary topic in this space. But then again, teaching law students is my profession. And it would seem a nonprofit would be keen to find a better way to make access easier. As Schwartz suggests, the exams should be free, or at least, following iTunes, $.99. Read about it here.

Full post as published by Lessig Blog on May 16, 2009 (boomark / email).