Application Materials — Louis D. Brandeis School of Law

A complete first-year application to the JD program includes the electronic application form available on LSAC.org plus the following additional materials:

LSAT Score Report

You must have a reportable score on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) from within the past five testing years. You may submit your application before you have a reportable LSAT score, but your application will not be complete until LSAC releases your score report to us. You must complete at least one LSAT Writing, administered separately, before your LSAT score will be released.

To withhold your application from review until a future LSAT score release, you must submit a Review Delay Request, which you will be provided once your application is verified as complete. If you do so, your application will not "ready for review" until the future LSAT score that you specify has been released. As such, if the score is released after January 1, your application will not have met the Early Bird application deadline, and if the score is released after April 1, your application will not have met the regular application deadline.

Once a final decision has been rendered for your application, the Admissions Committee may amend its decision but is under no obligation to do so.

Transcripts

You must provide your official transcripts from all undergraduate and graduate institutions where you have been enrolled. This includes institutions from which you have not received a degree, such as those where you earned transfer credits or those where you earned dual enrollment credits while in high school. Transcripts for completed academic programs must show all degrees conferred and dates of conferral.

You must receive a bachelor's degree from an accredited postsecondary academic institution prior to enrolling in the JD program. To check the accreditation status of your institution, please consult the U.S. Office of Postsecondary Education's Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs.

If you earned your bachelor's degree by September 2024, your transcripts must show the degree as conferred for your application to be considered complete. If you are still undertaking coursework toward your bachelor's degree, your application will be considered complete with "in progress" transcripts, but you must submit your final official transcripts to LSAC once your degree has been conferred. You may also choose to submit updated transcripts to LSAC in the interim.

Official transcripts must be sent to LSAC for required processing. Transcripts sent directly to Brandeis Law or to the University of Louisville cannot be accepted.

Letters of Recommendation

You must provide at least two letters of recommendation, and you may provide a third letter of recommendation if you so choose. The Admissions Committee expects letters to be academic or professional in nature and strongly encourages any applicant currently or recently enrolled in an academic program to submit at least one letter from a faculty member who has taught the applicant in a traditional classroom setting. Personal letters of recommendation, such as those from friends or family members, are strongly discouraged.

Letters of recommendation must be sent to LSAC by the recommenders themselves. You must then access your LSAC account and assign your letters of recommendation to the law schools to which you are applying. Letters of recommendation received via any other means cannot be accepted.

Personal Statement

The personal statement is an open-ended essay written on any topic of your choice. It should be 500 to 750 words in length and should demonstrate your capacity for high-quality, independent written work. Ideally, your personal statement will provide insight to the Admissions Committee on your personal story, experiences, motivations or anticipated contributions to the legal profession.

For additional insight on what to include in your personal statement, please refer to our Admissions FAQ.

Brandeis Statement

The Brandeis statement is a secondary essay written in response to the prompt below. It should be 250 to 500 words in length and, like your personal statement, should demonstrate your capacity for high-quality, independent written work. Your Brandeis statement should serve as a complement to your personal statement, but the two should not be redundant of one another. The Brandeis statement prompt is as follows:

The mission of Brandeis Law is guided by the vision of its benefactor and namesake, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, and endeavors to:

actively engage the community in addressing public problems, resolving conflicts, seeking justice and building a vibrant and sustainable future through high-quality research and innovative ideas, the application of which aims to solve public problems and serve the public; and
actively engage diverse participants in an academic community of students, faculty and staff that is strengthened by its diversity and its commitment to social justice, opportunity, sustainability and mutual respect.

Based on your past experiences and future ambitions, in what specific ways would you advance or contribute to Brandeis Law's mission as described? Your response may focus on either of the provided mission objectives or both.

Résumé

Your résumé should be clearly organized and appropriately formatted, outlining your education and work history as well as other notable achievements and experiences. Most applicants' résumés can fit on a single page if formatted thoughtfully, though a second page may be reasonable for applicants with significant work histories.

Addendum

If you so choose, you may include a brief addendum addressing any aspect of your application not addressed elsewhere that you feel is necessary to explain for the Admissions Committee. The addendum should be no longer than 250 words unless exceptional circumstances warrant a longer explanation. The addendum is optional and not required for your application to be complete.

Character and Fitness

In addition to a bar examination, there are character, fitness and other qualifications for admission to the bar in every U.S. jurisdiction. Applicants are encouraged to determine the requirements for any jurisdiction in which they intend to seek admission by contacting the jurisdiction. Addresses for all relevant agencies are available through the National Conference of Bar Examiners. Many jurisdictions, including Kentucky, require a copy of your law school application to accompany your petition for admission to the bar. The Character and Fitness section of the application requires the disclosure of information that may be pertinent to your character and fitness to study and practice the law. Failure to answer these questions truthfully and completely could affect not only your application for admission to Brandeis Law but also your petition for admission to the bar.

If you answer "Yes" to any of the questions in the Character and Fitness section of the application for admission, you must provide a written disclosure addressing each affirmative answer, including all relevant details, dates and outcomes. The Admissions Committee may request clarification or additional information if not sufficiently addressed by your initial disclosure, and review of your application may be suspended until you have provided a sufficient response.

All applicants to the law school have a continuing obligation to disclose pertinent character and fitness information. If your answer to any of the Character and Fitness questions changes from "No" to "Yes" after you have submitted your application, you must immediately contact the Office of Admissions and provide a written disclosure addressing each newly affirmative answer, including all relevant dates, details and outcomes, for review by the Admissions Committee.