Application Materials

Application Materials

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), where LSAC defines the "reportable score period" as the current testing cycle, beginning in June, and the previous five testing cycles. You may submit your application before you have a reportable LSAT score, but your application will not be complete until LSAC has released your score. You must complete at least one LSAT Argumentative Writing or LSAT Writing sample on file with LSAC in order for your LSAT score to be released.

To delay review of your application until a future LSAT score release, you must submit a Review Delay Request, made available to you once your application is verified as complete. If you do so, your application will not be "ready for review" until the LSAT score release that you specify. Therefore, if the score release occurs after December 15, 2025, your application will not meet the Early Bird application deadline, and if the score release occurs after March 15, 2026, your application will not meet the regular application deadline. 
 
Once a final decision has been rendered for your application, the Admissions Committee may amend its decision in light of a new LSAT score 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 institution prior to enrolling in the JD program. To check the accreditation status of an institution, please consult the U.S. Department of Education's  Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs.

If you earned your bachelor's degree by September 15, 2025, your transcript 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 may be considered complete with an "in progress" transcript, but you must submit your final official transcript to LSAC once your degree has been conferred. You may also choose to submit updated transcripts to LSAC in the interim.

All students intending to enroll in the fall must ensure that their final transcripts, showing degrees conferred, are on file with the Office of Admissions by July 15, 2026. If a student's final transcript will not be available by July 15, 2026, they may request a deadline extension. Under no circumstances may a student remain enrolled beyond October 5, 2026, without a final undergraduate transcript on file.

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 directly by your recommenders. You must then access your LSAC account and assign letters of recommendation to Brandeis Law. Letters of recommendation received via any other means will not 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 following prompt:

The mission of Brandeis Law celebrates the legacy of Justice Louis D. Brandeis, known as "the people's attorney" for his dedication to social causes and his refusal to accept fees for his public interest work. As a student at Brandeis Law, how would you actively engage with the law school community to contribute to its mission of service to the public and its commitment to justice, opportunity, sustainability and mutual respect?

Your Brandeis statement should clearly and specifically answer the prompt as provided. 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 each other.

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.

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 your application, you must provide a written disclosure that addresses each such answer. Your disclosure should be a narrative in your own words, including all relevant details, dates and outcomes. Please do not provide any court records or other similar documentation unless requested. 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 at any time after you have submitted your application there is new or previously undisclosed information that would affect your answers to the questions in this section, you must immediately contact the Office of Admissions to amend your answers as necessary and provide a new or amended written disclosure including all relevant details, dates and outcomes for review by the Admissions Committee.

Addendum

If you choose to do so, you may provide a brief addendum regarding 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. You are not required to provide an addendum.

By submitting your application materials, you certify that the information provided therein is truthful and complete, and you are under a continuing obligation to update and supplement your application if at any time after its submission the information therein is no longer truthful and complete. Failure to meet these obligations may result in denial of your application for admission or revocation of your admission to Brandeis Law. You likewise certify that you are the applicant named in the application and that the information provided therein is your own independent work. While soliciting and incorporating feedback from other people or artificial intelligence may be appropriate in completing your application, presenting the product of other such entities as your own independent work may result in denial of your application for admission or revocation of your admission to Brandeis Law.