24 FEB 2021
It looks as if more people are interested in law school again after a steep decline and then a flat period over the past decade.
As we head into the latter part of this year’s admissions cycle, the number of applicants to law schools around the country is up over 21%. The increase in applicants varies across regions, but in no area is it up less than 17% compared to this time last year. Application volume (as distinct from number of discrete applicants) is also up, by an even larger amount in most places. Application volume can increase simply because each applicant is on average applying to a larger number of schools, but even that fact could indicate a more serious intent to enroll in a law school come the fall. So no matter how one looks at the current picture (and recognizing that the admissions cycle isn’t over and things could change), demand for a legal education seems to be higher this year.
What could account for such a development? It’s hard to say for sure, but there are several possibilities that are obvious enough to warrant exploration. One is that many people wanted to go to law school last year, but chose not to because of COVID and the problems it created (as to geographic mobility, financial hardships for many families, and the necessity of remote or hybrid instruction at most law schools, to name just a few.) As expectations for a return to a (mostly) normal fall 2021 at law schools are rising, perhaps many people who have wanted to be in the law school game for a while are coming in off the sideline now.
Perhaps this is true, but it bears noting that enrollment of first-year law students across the nation in the fall of 2020 (in the midst of COVID) was flat (compared to the previous year), not down. So if some people are streaming off the sideline this year who would have (but for COVID) come in last year, then at worst the increased interest in law school this year would have been spread out over two years rather than one. But even if you cut the 21%-application-increase number in half, a 10% yearly increase is still a very healthy sign.
Another part of the explanation might involve an improving job market (and broader awareness of it) for law graduates. In each of the last several years, according to data collected each year by the American Bar Association (ABA) and the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), a higher and higher percentage of newly minted graduates of ABA-approved law schools are employed nine months after law school. Importantly, the share of recent graduates employed in full-time, long-term jobs for which a law license is required or a JD degree is distinctly useful and preferred is up about 10 percentage points from five or six years ago, to about 75%. And remember that a significant number of recent graduates (for personal or other reasons) do not seek full-time work (or legal work for that matter), so the success rate of folks who are actively looking for full-time law jobs is even higher."