Since 1977 law school enrollment hasn’t been this low, according to the American Bar Association. Since last year there has been an almost 50,000 student decline; analysts and speculators and the legal community consider that this “largely reflects concerns about the job market.” Now, there are signals, according to Bloomberg, that “legal employment conditions are beginning to turn around.
President of the American Bar Association, James R. Silkenat, comments that “prospective law students are also concerned about the cost and growing levels of debt associated with three years of graduate school.” Indeed, ROIs are one of the first measures, along with starting salaries and job opportunities in general that students across the board will consider-if they are hovering over the idea of joining a program that will take several of their earning years away while simultaneously costing them over a hundred thousand dollars on average.
Silkenat notes that while overall, the legal employment situation is improving, but applications still lag behind that news. Even now the ABA considers how to lower the cost of a legal education, he went on to say.
Straight from the source, the “National Association for Law Placement said in June that employment for 2012 graduates fell to 84.7 percent from 85.6 the previous year, the fifth straight decline.” Interestingly The 24 year employment rate, peaking in 2007, is the lowest now than it has been since 1994.
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