February 22, 2013 - Oregon State Bar

Law School Applications Are Collapsing (As They Should Be) - Business...
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/print/2013/01/law-school-applicatio...
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Law School Applications Are
Collapsing (As They Should Be)
By Jordan Weissmann
It appears that law schools are about to experience a bit of economic justice.
As the New York Times reports today, applications from aspiring JDs are on pace to hit a thirty year
low. About 30,000 brave souls have applied for a spot this fall's law school class, a staggering 20
percent drop from this time last year, and down 38 percent from 2010, as shown in the graph below
from the Law School Admissions Council. When all is said and done, about 40,000 students are
projected to enroll, which would cap off a 24 percent free-fall in just three years -- or the time it takes
your average student to graduate.
This is a desperately needed adjustment, for which the academy largely has itself to blame. The legal
economy is a shambles, and law schools have done virtually nothing to react.
For the last decade and a half, universities treated legal education as a cash cow. Tuition rose beyond
all reason, so that the average private law school grad in the class of 2011 borrowed $125,000 for their
degree, according to the American Bar Association. Public school grads were a little better off,
borrowing around $75,700. With students forking over ungodly sums of cash to learn the fine arts of
torts and contracts, new institutions opened rapidly. These schools often catered to relatively marginal
students, who they lured with egregiously over-optimistic jobs stats. Today, there are about 201