TLS law school profiles source and update policy

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TLS Law School Profiles Source and Update Policy

Policy reviewed August 30, 2026.

TLS profiles use the latest verified public information available as of each page's research date. Because admissions, tuition, scholarships, employment, and bar data are released on different schedules, a profile displays separate reporting periods rather than assigning every figure to one artificial year.

Source Priority

TLS begins with:

  1. ABA Standard 509, Employment Summary, Bar Admission, accreditation, and approved-school records;
  2. official law-school and parent-university admissions, cost, financial-aid, career, academic, and institutional pages;
  3. LSAC, NCBE, state bar, and government sources; and
  4. official announcements.

Established reporting, AccessLex, Law School Transparency, publicly accessible ranking profiles, and archived official pages may provide secondary context. Forums and student commentary are anecdotal and cannot establish a regulated or numerical field.

The ABA states that its Required Disclosures site is the home of the most updated ABA disclosure information and cautions that separately posted compilation spreadsheets may not be updated after initial publication.[1] TLS therefore checks the individual report and any later official correction when practical.

Direct Links and Archives

Citations link to the exact report or page supporting the claim, not a search-result page. TLS records the access date and may preserve an archived official page when a school has removed historically relevant content. An archive is labeled; it is not presented as current merely because it remains accessible.

Reporting Periods

Every time-sensitive figure identifies its period, including:

  • entering fall or admissions cycle;
  • academic year for tuition and scholarships;
  • graduating class for employment;
  • calendar year and cohort for bar results;
  • application cycle for deadlines; and
  • edition or release date for rankings.

A data release in 2026 may describe the Class of 2025 or a 2023 ultimate-bar cohort. The profile keeps those labels.

Routine Monitoring

Frequency Review
Monthly Broken external links; accreditation, closure, merger, teach-out, and major identity changes
Quarterly Dean, contact, deadlines, tuition, program status, and delivery format
Annually after release Standard 509 admissions, tuition, grants, conditional scholarships, transfers, and attrition
Annually after release Employment Summary Reports
Annually after release Bar Admission Reports
On publication Ranking edition, methodology label, and direct source
Event-driven Accreditation action, closure, teach-out, merger, rename, ownership, campus, or program-format change

The detailed operational calendar appears in the sitewide maintenance schedule.

Meaningful Update Dates

“Last researched” is the date sources were checked for the page's material fields. “Last materially updated” is the date the visible profile received a substantive factual or analytical change.

TLS does not refresh these dates for a spelling fix, template change, automated import, tracking change, or unreviewed timestamp. A page can have a recent technical revision and an older research date.

Conflicting Sources

When authoritative sources conflict, TLS:

  1. confirms the exact field and period;
  2. checks whether the sources use different definitions, cohorts, programs, or dates;
  3. prefers the authority responsible for the exact field;
  4. explains a material discrepancy; and
  5. flags an unresolved conflict for human review.

The newest page is not automatically the best source. A current marketing page does not override a regulatory report for a regulatory field; an old 509 report does not establish today's dean or deadline.

Broken and Changed Links

TLS first seeks the same official document at a new URL. If unavailable, it may use an official archive, a web archive with clear labeling, or a high-quality secondary source. A dead citation is not silently replaced with a different claim.

School-Submitted Updates

Schools may identify current official materials through the corrections process. Submission does not guarantee adoption, favorable interpretation, or a promotional link. TLS independently determines the appropriate source and wording.

Version and Publication Control

Automated edits use the current page revision identifier, stop on conflict, preserve a rollback copy, provide a descriptive edit summary, and do not overwrite newer human work. Publication stops on authentication, abuse-filter, validation, or source-integrity errors.

Related Pages

References

  1. ↑ ABA Section of Legal Education, Statistics and Required Disclosures
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