ABSTRACT
The National Admissions Test for Law (LNAT) was developed to aid admissions tutors in identifying the best students to accept on their undergraduate law programmes, and was intended to counter the criticisms that the existing admissions process discriminated against those from certain backgrounds. The test was devised by a consortium of leading universities, comprised of Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, East Anglia, Nottingham, Oxford and UCL, and was first sat in November 2004. Early indications are that it has proved very successful and King’s College London, the University of Glasgow and Manchester Metropolitan University have already signalled their intention to join the consortium for the 2005 test, with many other institutions expected to shortly follow suit. UK students applying to any of the participating institutions are required to sit the test as part of the application process, and this requirement is likely to be extended to overseas students in the near future, thereby developing a more level playing field for all applicants. The requirement to sit the LNAT is in addition to any other requirements of each university concerned, such as interviews or the submission of written work, and, unless exceptional circumstances can be demonstrated, a failure to take the test will result in an automatic rejection by the institution in question.
