Law School Admissions Are Falling

As reported over at Tom Kane's Legal Marketing Blog law school admissions are down 4.6% this year, continuing a three year trend.  The question is why?  To put it less delicately than Tom puts it, he believes that it is partly the piss poor job law schools are doing in developing as part of their curriculum the skills lawyers will need to practice law in the real world.  In this he has a point.  Legal theory is great.  It cannot be understated.  But, legal practicality is sorely missing.  What is also missing, according to Tom's post, is a market realization that solos make up more than 40% of law school graduates (or the 80% according to former ABA President Michael Greco who practice as solos or in small firms).  It does not take long for those considering law school to realize that the salaries offered to the gifted few coming out of law school are not real options for the majority of law graduates, and the training one receives is sometimes useless for the real world practice.  Tom's post is good reading.

Comments

[Mike]

Hey Chuck,

"I'm not a lawyer, but . . ."

I believe that admissions ebb and flow and the bigger waves are related more to broader economic, political, and social conditions than to specific vocational training issues.

A few students may question whether the legal educational system adequately prepares them to position their services in a crowded marketplace, but I suspect that for most the questions are "What now?" and "How do I make money?" ;)

In a few years the pendulum will swing back the other way again.

It's funny--or perhaps sad--to see that the issues with legal education discussed here and elsewhere are the same as they were 15 years ago when I was planning for law school.

Thanks for the weblog--I enjoy reading your posts.