Legal Education Statistics

Should law schools have more hands-on learning requirements?

Law students will need to get twice as much practical, hands-on experience before graduation if a proposal by the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions moves forward.

May 12, 2025 4:30 PM CDT

Elections, economy and social issues inspire 22.9% jump in law school applications

Applications to ABA-accredited law schools are up 22.9% compared to last year, and the rise can be attributed to the 2024 elections, an unstable economy and a focus on social issues, experts say.

May 8, 2025 4:10 PM CDT

California Supreme Court orders return to Multistate Bar Examination, lowers bar pass score

The State Bar of California, still reeling from the disastrous February launch of its bar exam written in conjunction with Kaplan, was recently hit with California Supreme Court orders mandating the return to the Multistate Bar Examination in July and lowering the bar pass score for the February examinees.

May 6, 2025 1:45 PM CDT

More than half of reporting states see drop in February bar pass rates

More than half of the states reporting results from February’s bar exam saw drops in overall pass rates, with most reporting a 50% or lower pass rate, according to statistics collected by the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

May 1, 2025 4:11 PM CDT

Racial disparities in admissions, scholarships remain in law schools, AccessLex Institute study says

Students of color receive a disproportionately lower percentage of full-tuition scholarships, with white students receiving 70% of them; Hispanic students received 9% and Black students received 6% of full-tuition scholarships.

Apr 29, 2025 3:47 PM CDT

More 2024 law grads find jobs than in 2023, new ABA data shows

For the third year in a row, law school graduates in 2024 were more likely to find jobs than their peers who graduated a year earlier, according to data released Wednesday by the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Apr 24, 2025 12:57 PM CDT

Harvard Law, Duke University fall out of top 5 in latest US News law school rankings

Stanford Law School and Yale Law School tied for first place in rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report, the same spot that they occupied in last year’s list.

Apr 8, 2025 9:13 AM CDT

Multistate Bar Examination score drops full point for February exam

The national mean scale score for the February Multistate Bar Examination has decreased a full point, from 131.8 in February 2024 to 130.8 in February 2025, according to the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Mar 28, 2025 11:17 AM CDT

New Hampshire law school found noncompliant with ABA accreditation standard

The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has found the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law not compliant with an ABA accreditation standard focused on financial resources.

Mar 25, 2025 2:56 PM CDT

More first-time bar candidates passed exam in 2024, new ABA data shows

The percentage of successful first-time bar exam takers in 2024 increased more than 3 percentage points from a year earlier, according to data released Wednesday by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Mar 12, 2025 2:25 PM CDT

Law school diversity persists after affirmative action ban, new ABA report finds

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against race-conscious affirmative action policies did little to impact the makeup of 2024’s first year law students, according to the 2024 Standard 509 Information Report data overview from the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Dec 18, 2024 9:20 AM CST