1L enrollment drops nearly 30 percent from 2010 high; when were figures last so low?
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Corrected: First-year enrollment at ABA-approved law schools dropped this year to the lowest point since 1973, when there were 53 fewer accredited law schools.
The 204 ABA-accredited law schools enrolled 37,924 full- and part-time first-year students in the fall of 2014, a drop of 4.4 percent from 2013 and a drop of 27.7 percent from the historic high of 52,488 in 2010, according to an ABA press release.
Sixty-four schools reported a drop in first-year enrollment of 10 percent or more since last year. Thirty-three law schools bucked the trend, however, reporting an increase in 1L enrollment this year of 10 percent or more.
Total enrollment also declined this year. The law schools reported total enrollment of 119,775 full- and part-time students, a drop of 6.9 percent from 2013 and a drop of 17.5 percent from the historic high in 2010.
The data is from questionnaires completed by the law schools and filed with the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The section will produce reports on the data, including school-specific information, over the next few months at the statistics page on its website.
Edited at 3:30 p.m. to correct inaccurate statistics for 1L enrollment numbers initially provided by the press release. Edited again on Dec. 17 to correct inaccurate year provided in the press release.
Correction
Edited at 3:30 p.m. to correct inaccurate statistics for 1L enrollment numbers.
