07 Jun Third Year of Drop in Law School Applications: Time for Change

The Law School Admission Council reports an over 13% drop in applications to law schools this year as against last year. That’s the third annual drop in a row. Roughly 56,000 have applied this year, this according to The Washington Post.

As we know there are several reasons for this. The cost of the three years of law school has skyrocketed, while job prospects in the last five years have diminished markedly. And, it sounds dumb, but there are currently no major TV shows showing lawyers doing exciting things. Yes, Law and Order is still around, but its impact has mostly gone by the wayside. You’d be surprised how many people applied to law school in the 1980s and early 1990s because they thought the life of lawyers in the TV show LA Law was cool.

There is also another reason: three years is a long time to build up debt, and most agree that the third year of law school could be replaced with something more practical. My continuing suggestion: follow the medical school model of two years in the classroom and two years doing real work, a good old fashioned apprenticeship of some kind. Then, when students graduate, they will have valuable skills to hit the ground running, rather than knowing “about the law” but having no clue how to draft a contract, start a lawsuit or write a will. The current crisis of dropping applications is the perfect time to stir up excitement about dramatic change in how we train young lawyers.