Credential Assembly Service
From the application itself, to personal statements and résumés, to transcripts and letters of recommendation, there’s a lot that goes into applying to law school. The Credential Assembly Service (CAS) makes the application process simpler for applicants and law schools. With CAS, your transcripts, letters of recommendation, and any other required documents only need to be sent once, to LSAC — and we’ll take care of submitting them electronically to any law school to which you apply.
All ABA-approved law schools (and many others) require JD applicants to use CAS. Here’s a look at what CAS does, what it costs, and what schools receive when you apply.
CAS Costs
A subscription to CAS costs $215 and is active for five years. It includes the following:
Transcript summarization (as well as authentication and evaluation of academic records for internationally educated JD applicants, if applicable)
Letter of recommendation processing
Electronic application processing for all ABA-approved law schools and some non-ABA-approved schools
When you apply to a law school, LSAC will send a CAS Report to that school; each report costs $45, so you’ll pay that fee for every school to which you apply.
If you qualify, you can apply for an LSAC Fee Waiver, which covers many of the costs related to applying to law school, including the CAS subscription fee and either three or six CAS Reports, depending on the waiver tier you’re awarded.
Basic Steps
Once you register, provide consent for LSAC to handle your documents, and pay for your CAS subscription, you’ll provide information about every degree-granting institution you’ve attended, even if you didn’t graduate from that school. From each institution, you’ll then request a transcript that will be sent directly to LSAC, which will summarize all your transcripts for your CAS Reports.
You’ll also provide the name and contact information for each person you want to write you a letter of recommendation. LSAC will facilitate uploading those letters, whether your recommenders submit them on paper or electronically. Then, you’ll assign the letters to each law school to which you’re applying.
After we’ve received and processed your transcripts and letters of recommendation, and once you’ve taken the LSAT (and recorded a reportable score), your CAS Report will be ready to be sent along with every law school application you submit. (You can submit your applications through CAS as well.)
The CAS Report
Your CAS Report includes all information LSAC submits to law schools on your behalf. It includes a one-page cover sheet that summarizes your:
Transcripts
GPA information
LSAT score(s)
LSAT Argumentative Writing sample
Letters of recommendation
Misconduct or irregularity status
The CAS Report will also include your cumulative GPA from the school from which you graduated, your LSAC-calculated GPA, and a breakdown of your GPA trends year by year and by the number of credits earned per letter grade. If your degree-granting institution has enough law school applicants, the CAS Report will also include a breakdown of how your LSAT score and GPA compare to other test takers and applicants from your school over the past three years. This can provide insight to the schools about the competitiveness of your undergraduate institution and your readiness for law school. This cover sheet is provided in addition to the documents themselves, so schools will review both the CAS Report and the actual transcripts.
If an applicant is found to have committed misconduct or an irregularity in the application process, all relevant paperwork having to do with their investigation and hearing will be included with the CAS Report.
It’s important for you to know that LSAC’s misconduct and irregularities subcommittee does not make any recommendations about admission decisions. Its role is solely to provide additional context to admission professionals. Any documents related to the investigative process, including transcripts of any hearings, will be submitted along with your application materials to the law schools to which you apply. However, this whole process can be avoided by taking the application process seriously and submitting documents that are carefully proofread, authentic, and accurate.
As always, if you do not understand part of the process or what is being asked of you at any point in the application process, you can reach out to LSAC or the law school to which you plan to apply.