Editorial Standards
A reference site is only as trustworthy as the people and process behind it. Here is who runs OpenLawPrep, where the numbers come from, and how we keep them honest.
Last updated: October 2026
Who runs this site. OpenLawPrep is an independent editorial project with a single accountable operator. It is run by an independent researcher who has long tracked ABA 509 disclosures, with no parent company, no lead-generation business, and no admissions consultancy behind it.
Why this site exists
The American Bar Association requires every accredited law school to publish a Standard 509 disclosure — acceptance rates, LSAT and GPA medians, tuition, grants, bar-passage rates, and more. That data is public, but it is scattered across nearly 200 individual PDFs and is painful to compare. OpenLawPrep collects it into one place, normalizes it, and presents it free of charge and without an account. The goal is a neutral reference layer, not a recommendation engine.
How we compile the data
Every school-level figure on this site comes from one of two official sources:
- ABA Standard 509 Required Disclosures (2025 reporting cycle) — the primary source for admissions, tuition, grant, and bar-passage figures across all 196 ABA-approved law schools.
- LSAC official score-conversion and percentile tables — used for LSAT scale/percentile relationships and the calculators.
We do not mix in third-party estimates, sponsored placements, or invented numbers. The Data Guide documents what each field means, which year it describes, and — where the disclosure does not support a comparison — which comparisons we deliberately do not make.
How we verify and correct
Official disclosures get amended, and schools occasionally report differently across cycles. Our process:
- Each school's figures are entered from the corresponding 2025 509 PDF and cross-checked against the school's own published summary.
- Calculated fields (acceptance rate, grant coverage, net tuition) are derived with documented formulas, not estimated.
- If a reader or a school flags an error, we re-check it against the source disclosure and correct it. A public correction note is added where the change is material.
Found something wrong? Email [email protected] and we will verify it against the source.
Editorial independence and conflicts of interest
OpenLawPrep is funded by advertising (Google AdSense). To keep that from distorting the data:
- No school pays to appear, rank higher, or be excluded. Every ABA-approved school is included on the same terms, whether or not anyone advertises.
- No affiliate links. We do not earn commissions from schools, prep companies, or application services.
- No sponsored content. Articles are written by the editorial team; we do not sell placement to advertisers.
- Advertising is separated from editorial. Ad position, ranking, and inclusion are never influenced by advertising relationships.
What our articles are — and are not
Our articles explain what the admissions data means and how decisions generally work. They are general information, not personalized admissions advice or legal advice. Every substantive claim about LSAT policy, fees, or exam structure is checked against the relevant official source and cited in the article's sources. Where a topic is genuinely uncertain, we say so.
Contact
Questions about our data, methodology, or a correction:
- Email: [email protected]
- Also see the Contact page and the About page.