Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: American law schools are entering their second decade of wrenching change following a relative era of prosperity and calm.The decade from 2000 to 2010 was seemingly charmed for law schools.More American Bar Association (ABA) accredited law schools came online, more students took the LSAT, more students enrolled in law school, tuition rose ahead of inflation, and teaching loads went down, as did student-to-faculty ratios. 1 The employment results were worse, and spiking debt levels were hardly good news for students, 2 but ha ha!, those were problems for the students, not the schools, so times seemed good.To paraphrase Doonesbury: It was good news all around!No one suffered but the students, and they're used to it!3 Nevertheless, if something cannot go on forever, it won't.In 2011, an all-time high 52,488 students entered American law schools, despite a falling number of applicants (the high point for law school applications was actually in 2008), a collapsing job market for law graduates, and increasingly bad press for the value of law degrees.4 At last, the bill came due.By 2014, first-year enrollment had collapsed to 37,894 and has never really recovered.5 The high-water mark since 2014 is 41,710
Author: Benjamin H. Barton
Institutions: Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Western Michigan University, University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, Valparaiso University, University of the District of Columbia, InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico, University of South Dakota, Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, Texas Southern University, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4401802156