UNM School of Law Professor Kevin K. Washburn has been appointed to serve a three-year term on the LSAC Board of Trustees, ending in 2019. 

Washburn previously served on the Board of Trustees from 2006 through 2009. He was elected to a new three-year term in 2012, but was required by the White House to resign the board position when he was confirmed by the United States Senate to a position in the Obama Administration.

Washburn says that he’s honored to serve the LSAC because it changed legal education. “Before the LSAT, admission to elite law schools was often based on connections, and not only merit,” he explains. “I grew up poor and went to non-elite schools. I would have failed the ‘connections’ test. The LSAT leveled the playing field. The LSAT gives ordinary students the opportunity to prove that they have the logical reasoning skills to compete intellectually with more privileged students from the elite. Quite candidly, the LSAT gave me the opportunity to prove myself.”

Washburn’s appointment carries forward a strong tradition of UNM service with the LSAC. Former deans Fred Hart and Leo Romero and former Associate Dean Peter Winograd each have served a term as chair or president of the LSAC. Dean Alfred Mathewson currently serves as a volunteer within the organization.

After years of declines, law school applications, applicants and the number of LSAT exams are trending upward this year, reflecting greater interest in legal education.