First they came for our nuclear secrets, and I did not speak out — because I did not have nuclear secrets. And they were on the Mar-a-Lago bathroom floor. Then they came for the AI algorithms, and I did not speak out — because I was not burning venture capitalist money on a word generator. Then they came for Yale Law School — and there was no one left to speak for me.
After years of warnings about Chinese hacking operations targeting America’s most closely held secrets, it turns out we should’ve been watching “access to lectures about the fertile octogenarian.” The Law School Admission Council took a break from being sued over price-fixing allegations to announce that it suspended online LSAT testing in mainland China after discovering organized cheating efforts. Cue the most pretentious senior lawyer you know to explain “this never happened when we had a logic games section!” Perhaps, though real world lawyering usually has less to do with identifying the third man in a six-person seating arrangement and more to do with telling a partner “fine, I’ll cancel my weekend.”
“We have been increasingly concerned about organized efforts by individuals and companies in mainland China to promote test misconduct,” wrote LSAC executive VP Susan L. Krinsky. “While security is always a concern, these enterprises are becoming increasingly aggressive. This type of activity is not limited to the LSAT; these enterprises purport to offer cheating services for virtually every standardized test. We are taking steps to shut down these operations and will pursue appropriate legal remedies. LSAC also has processes in place to monitor and respond to individual score irregularities for all LSAT candidates, and we will continue to evolve our security measures.”
Sounds like it’s time to take the GRE.
It’s unclear what the end game would be in an environment where the Trump administration is actively trying to end international student enrollment. Congratulations on that ill-gotten 178… your reward is still not going to be a Georgetown degree. Still, it’s interesting if China thought infiltrating bastions of American legal education would matter at a time when the rule of law is increasingly vibes-centric.
Or perhaps that was the point.
Online Exam for Admission to US Law Schools to be Suspended in Mainland China Amid Cheating Crackdown [Law.com International]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
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