By Karen Sloan, From The National Law Journal

Note: Several figures originally provided by the ABA for this report were incorrect. The corrected numbers are given below.

Law school enrollment fell for the fourth straight year in 2014, according to figures released Tuesday by the American Bar Association.

The number of first-year students who showed up on law campuses this fall declined by 4.4 percent compared with the previous year, which amounts to 1,751 fewer students. That means new student enrollment is down by nearly 28 percent since its historic peak in 2010, when many flocked to law school during the economic recession.

Nationwide, the number of full-time and part-time J.D. students fell by nearly 7 percent from one year ago. That represents a 17.5 percent decline since 2010.

Data from the Law School Admission Council had indicated that fewer people took the Law School Admission Test and applied to law school during the last admissions cycle. But the actual enrollment numbers will undoubtedly add fuel to existing concern over the economic future of law schools that already have seen drastic enrollment cuts.

Twenty-five law schools saw first-year enrollment fall by more than 20 percent this year, according to the ABA. The organization did not release school-specific data but said it would provide that information in the coming months.

Another 39 schools saw the number of first-years decline by at least 10 percent.

First-year enrollment fell at 127 law schools nationwide, but 69 increased the size of their 1L class. Among the gainers, 33 schools saw a 1L increase of 10 percent or more.

That overall J.D. enrollment is down more than first-year enrollment reflects the fact that schools have brought in progressively smaller classes in successive years, said Brian Tamanaha, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law who tracks law school enrollment and economic trends.

That has serious financial implications for schools, he said.

“What results is that the class that graduates is relatively much larger than the newly enrolled class. Not only are fewer 1Ls enrolling than the year before, which cuts into revenue, but also the larger departing class means a greater loss in revenue because fewer bodies are paying tuition overall,” Tamanaha said. “The decline, in other words, hits law schools in two ways: successively smaller first-year enrollment, which is manifest in progressively larger declines in overall enrollment.”

Tamanaha added that the decline in the size of the first-year class is less than the 8 percent decline in applicants this year, meaning law schools are reaching deeper into their applicant pools in order to fill their classes.

According to the ABA, the fall 2014 entering class is the smallest since 1974. That statistic is even more striking considering there are 204 ABA-accredited law schools now compared with 151 in 1974.

Similarly, the total number of J.D. students nationwide is the lowest since 1982, when there were only 169 law schools.

 

IMAGE: Brian Tamanaha. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ

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