The Law School Accommodations Racket

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | June 10, 2026 | Andrew Testerman

[karpov]

In the fall of 2023, I took my first law school exam, a 13-page extravaganza replete with tortured fact patterns and endlessly subdividing short-answer questions. We had all of three hours to complete it. In a state of sustained panic, I macheted my way through the onslaught of pages, managing—just barely—to finish in the nick of time. The result was a piece of work product that, in any other legal context, would be career-ending: an unedited first draft, blurted out under conditions of extreme haste. Several students I spoke with had failed to complete the exam at all.

Other students, however, had disability accommodations, which afforded them either one-and-a-half or double time—that is, they’d have four-and-a-half to six hours to complete a three-hour exam. According to the U.C. Berkeley Disabled Students’ Program (DSP) website, more than a third of Berkeley Law students—37.5 percent, according to the most recent numbers—receive disability accommodations. For reference, in 2021, 10 percent of U.C. Berkeley undergraduates and a mere 3 percent of the school’s graduate students claimed disability status. At our nation’s community colleges, this figure is 3 to 4 percent; on the California Bar Exam, around 7 percent.

At Berkeley Law, there are more disabled law students than there are male law students. By the end of the academic year, upwards of 40 percent of Berkeley Law students may be enrolled in the university’s DSP (the total increases throughout the year). Furthermore, data obtained from Berkeley’s DSP office reveal that 98 percent of disabled students have a primary or secondary diagnosis of “ADD/ADHD,” “anxiety,” or (somewhat less commonly) “depression.” Neither is Berkeley Law an anomaly: at other California schools, the proportion of students receiving accommodations is often roughly similar.

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TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: lawschool

[PeterPrinciple]

As it stands, on a three-hour exam, the DSP simply assumes that students with “ADHD” or “anxiety” may spend up to an hour and a half or two hours being distracted or otherwise unable to perform, and furnishes them with extra time accordingly. This one-size-fits-all practice is arguably contrary to regulatory policy, given the ADA’s mandate that administrators make “individualized determinations.”

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adhd or anxiety are very subjective

As a consumer i would want to know if they are adhd or anxiety passed.

[mikey_hates_everything]

When they’re billing by the hour, I don’t want a “disabled” lawyer that takes 1-1/2 to 2 times the time to do the same job as a normal lawyer unless their rates are discounted by 1/3 to 1/2.

[ansel12]

“””of Berkeley Law students—37.5 percent”””= disabled

Yet no one at the school is willing to take a look at their school policy since it was changed to lead to this.

This is pure destruction and it is everywhere in America.

[Albion Wilde]

What a stunning disclosure. Assuming his statistics are indeed factual, this is a solidly revealing argument for reform.

I shudder to think of the billable hours these “accommodated”, disabled lawyers will run up, and at what price? That said, there are some disabled lawyers who are doing the job and doing it well, but the one in particular I know of is not a courtroom lawyer but a research and planning pro. Can you imagine how lame these snowflakes would be as trial lawyers?

Wonder what department of government the author has been hired by, as his brief bio suggests?

[Albion Wilde]

Ping!

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

When they’re billing by the hour, I don’t want a “disabled” lawyer that takes 1-1/2 to 2 times the time to do the same job as a normal lawyer unless their rates are discounted by 1/3 to 1/2.

It's a flat out admission that they're inefficient. The federal rules of civil procedure, as well as the rules of procedure in every state with which I am familiar, also don't give attorneys any additional time to perform any action based on a claimed "disability". Nor do you get additional time during trial to prepare your witness outlines, openings, or closings. You must complete the task in the exact same time allowed to everyone else.

[jeffc]

Gee, I thought all law school taught was how to successfully sue multi-billion $$ companies in class action lawsuits.

You know, where the lawyers get millions and the plaintiffs get a coupon for $10 off their next purchase of the product they sued.

What else would be on the test? How to become a federal judge in 10 years or less?