Jason Jarvis (Pepperdine; Google Scholar), Assessing Accommodations for Law Students with Academic Disabilities, 74 J. Legal Educ. ___ (2026):
This Article describes the current landscape of academic disability accommodations in United States law schools, furthering the work begun in Susan Johanne Adams’s seminal article, Leveling the Floor: Classroom Accommodations for Law Students with Disabilities, 48 J. Legal Educ. 273 (1998). Since 1998, the law has evolved slowly while the percentage of academic disability accommodations in higher education has exploded. Although national averages of disabled adults have crept upwards, the percentage of students with disabilities in law school appears to be outpacing that increase by significant margins. When Adams surveyed the law school disability landscape, “academic” disabilities were a developing issue rather than the overwhelming majority of accommodations. Academic disabilities now dominate the ADA-compliance landscape in law schools.
Based in part on the first survey of ABA-accredited law schools focused onacademic disability accommodations, this Article frames the current landscape in law school higher education. Although disability accommodations in law school far outpace those of the general population, they reflect similar accommodations already granted in undergraduate institutions and by the Law School Admission Council for the LSAT. On the other hand, many state bars do not offer disability accommodations as generous as LSAC or the schools do themselves, leading to pernicious deltas between school-based expectations and licensure reality for disabled students, not to mention expectations in the practice of law. As reflected in the survey, law schools are aware of this and are concerned. This Article concludes by summarizing the key themes of the survey responses and offering some suggestions for future consideration and study.
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