How to Fix Law School

What's the problem? The problem is that law schools keep having lower and lower enrollment (unless they are top tier schools). But at the same time, law schools are not actively changing how they do their jobs (again, for the most part.) . . . .

Law school needs to stop pretending they are selling some law experience out of The Paper Chase and that they are in the business of training lawyers so they can get jobs.

 I'm glad law school professors have such a love of the law that they teach and have tenure.

Most of us practicing law in the "real world" don't have that luxury; it's hit a certain billable hour requirement or brief requirement or die. 

Article here (via taxprof blog).

Decline in law school enrollment leads to "survival of the fittest," according to law prof

Thinking of law school in the Midwest (aka "Rust Belt" states?) Your potential law school is working hard to get your tuition dollars, and that is because enrollment in law school is way, way down.  Some law schools have opted not to admit students for certain terms (in other words, forcing a larger class in September and January, but have no new students in May). Others have lowered admission standards, and some have done both.

Article here (via aba journal).

Many law schools in the region (of the "Rust Belt") are trying to survive by admitting larger numbers of lesser qualified applicants, theorizing they need to hold on until conditions return to normal. But the new normal consists of “shrinkage, adaptation and inter-law school competition that is likely to become even more challenging over the next five to 10 years,” Barnhizer writes.
Barnhizer cites six “critical factors” affecting law schools. They are:

1) The Great Lakes and Midwest region is economically depressed. Any partial recovery “will fall short of recreating the base of manufacturing activity that produced a strong upwardly mobile middle class of the kind that sustains high-level educational activity.”

Law school enrollment continues to fall, despite hopes

 Law schools have been having a rough time of things lately. Takers of the LSAT have slumped over the last 5 years, and the numbers - despite what hopes had been - continue to slump.

 The hope was that the slump would be followed by an influx of new students.

But it isn’t happening. The law school, which Parrish leads, saw the number of first-year law students decline 10 percent this school year on top of the nearly 25-percent decline in first-year enrollment it suffered from 2010 to 2013.

A similar story is playing out at most law schools in Indiana and the nation. Enrollment has fallen at the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law at IUPUI and Valparaiso University Law School in northwest Indiana.

Article here (via taxprof blog). 

More ways to cut costs for law schools with declining enrollment

It's been five years since the beginning of the decline in law school enrollment. Law schools have predictably already cut a lot of things out of their programs. But many schools are still looking to cut more costs!

This article has a brief list of what to cut:

• Voluntary Retirements/Voluntary Pay Cuts 
• Cuts to Faculty Research Support
• Cut/Consolidate Administrative Positions
• Reduce the Number of Course Offerings/Mandate More Courses
• Law Library
• International Programs
• Overhead

Number of people taking LSAT drops further

The number of people taking the Law School Admission Test dropped 8.1 percent for the test this fall, compared to the fall test last year, after declining 9.2 percent for the June test.

Those latest figures from the Law School Admission Council indicate a downward trend over the last five years, report TaxProf Blog and the Excess of Democracy Blog. The total number of LSATs administered in June and September/October is 52,745, a drop of 40 percent from the totals for the same test period in 2009.

Article here. (ABA Journal). 

Want to go to law school for less? Get into Wayne State Law School.

Wayne State University Law School is battling a drop in enrollment with a tuition freeze and guaranteed scholarships for every incoming student.

The Detroit law school says in a press release that tuition will be frozen at about $28,000 for all incoming and current students through at least the 2015-16 school year. In addition, the school is guaranteeing scholarships of at least $4,000 annually to all incoming students and offering nearly $1 million in new scholarship opportunities to current students. TaxProf Blog noted coverage in the Detroit Free Press.

Article here (via abajournal). 

Why does law school cost so dang much? The ABA ponders the question.

At its first public hearing, the ABA's new Task Force on the Financing of Legal Education spent much of its time trying to determine exactly what is leading to increases in law school tuition, and debilitating debt loads being carried by so many law students.

The task force, chaired by former Detroit mayor and onetime ABA President Dennis Archer, met over a day and a half Saturday and Sunday during the ABA's Annual Meeting in Boston. Its aim is to examine the cost of legal education for students, and to explore student lending and how law schools are being financed. Beginning with the public hearing, the task force is delving into how law schools use merit scholarships, tuition discounts and need-based financial aid.

Article here (via taxprof blog). 

Law schools have smallest incoming classes since the 1970s; top schools and scorers buck trend.

Law schools admitted 39,675 first-year students last year, the smallest incoming class since the 1970s.

Article here. 

Bucking the trend are Harvard Law School and students who score high on the Law School Admission Test. More high-scoring students are applying to law school, and applications to Harvard’s law school are up significantly this year, according to the story.

Why the decline in recent LSAT applicants?

Recent years have shown a downward trend to the amount of people applying to law schools and taking the LSAT (law school aptitude test). Why? It's because the recent law grads -- those just out, looking for work, and finding little to no help from their law schools-- feel disaffected and left out. Their advice to others inquiring about a decision to go to law school has been "don't go."

At least that's the theory in this article from Above the Law. 

(hat tip, taxprofblog).

Are law schools heading into a bull market?

The schools of thought are hesitant to say "yes" to this question, but it's a good "maybe."

Article here. (via WSJ law blog, hat tip taxlawprof blog).

The analysis, the writer suggests, is less an endorsement of law school than a recognition of the law of supply and demand.

Says Mr. Weissmann (business reporter at Slate): “The only reason the class of 2016 is looking at a relatively upbeat future is that enough students gave up on the idea of becoming lawyers amid a market that was flooded with jobless young people.”

In other words, the only reason it looks good now is because so many people decided it looked terrible a few years ago.  

Former Detroit Mayor Archer to lead ABA Task Force on Legal - Ed Financing

The task force is charged with looking at the cost of legal education for students, the financing of law schools, student loans and educational debt. It will also consider current practices of law schools regarding the use of merit scholarships, tuition discounting and need-based aid.

Article here (via TaxProf blog). 

Which law schools are cutting their full-time faculty?

In response to lower enrollment, law schools are making cuts to stay afloat. Which law schools are cutting full-time faculty?

Article here.

What does "the new normal" mean to current legal scholarship?

Law schools, and the legal profession, are wondering how to adjust since law school enrollment is steeply declining. There's definitely been a period of adjustment since 2009/10, when enrollment was at its recent high. Law schools are cutting costs by asking faculty to retire, or offering merit-based tuition, and in rare cases, cutting tuition amounts.

But what does this all mean for the current quality of legal scholarship? This article explains more.  (via TaxProf blog).

For the first time since 2010, number of LSAT takers has risen

Has the law-school crisis turned a corner? That’s one way of looking at the latest LSAT data.
The number of law school admission tests administered in February was up 1.1% from the previous year, according to new figures released by the Law School Admission Council.
That may not sound like a significant change, but it’s the first time since June 2010 that the number of people who took the standardized exam increased as compared to the year before.

article here. 

Students sue law schools over employment reporting figures

This isn't fresh news (sorry). It's a link to an article in a Law Journal about this "trend" of former students suing their schools for what was reported as employment figures.

article here.

ABA report on 2012 law grads: about 1/2 have full-time legal work

Barely half of all 2012 law school graduates had full time, long-term legal jobs as of Feb. 15, according to employment outcome data released Friday by the ABA's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Law schools reported that 56.2 percent of 2012 graduates were in jobs requiring bar passage, the figures show. But that's still a slight improvement over last year, when only 54.9 percent of all 2011 graduates had full-time, long-term legal jobs nine months after graduation.

Article here. 

What do law students think of law school?

Via Wall Street Journal's law blog. 

In 2013 nearly two-thirds of students (65%) reported that their schools place “a substantial emphasis” on giving them the support they need to succeed academically, and 68% said they were satisfied with the financial aid advising they received.
  ( . . . )
But students seemed less happy with job search services and career counseling, which were rated unsatisfactory by 43% and 42% of respondents, respectively—not terribly surprising, given the challenging legal job market.

Article here.

Law schools: how should they be teaching?

Rather than continuing the “negative” critique of current forms of legal education, this essay suggests a slightly more optimistic course for why studying and practicing law, as a more broadly defined discipline, should still be attracting both students and faculty who care about making the world more just, fair, efficient, effective, and peaceful.

 Via Taxprof blog. 

Jail time for submitting misleading or false law school rankings?

A most unlikely collection of suspects - law schools, their deans, U.S. News & World Report and its employees - may have committed felonies by publishing false information as part of U.S. News' ranking of law schools. The possible federal felonies include mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, racketeering, and making false statements. Employees of law schools and U.S. News who committed these crimes can be punished as individuals, and under federal law the schools and U.S. News would likely be criminally liable for their agents' crimes.


Article here.

Change: More law jobs than law grads by 2016 ?

Is it a good time to apply to law school or not?

With law school enrollment dropping, some say it is only a matter of time before the number of legal jobs exceeds the number of graduates. ...

[D]ifferent law professors can't agree on the date when supply will drop below demand. Paul Young, a law professor at Appalchian ... predicts that full-time legal jobs will exceed the number of law school graduates in 2017.

article here