It is projected that law school applications will drop by about 20% this year, on top of a marked decrease in applications last year. This has received much coverage in legal and non-legal publications, with much attention on how to combat this trend. At the same time that law schools are seeing smaller 1L classes and the job market for law school graduates is getting smaller, it appears that there are plans to open up some new law schools.
According to information in the Wall Street Journal, Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne Indiana and the University of North Texas in Dallas plan to open law schools; each state already has a number of law schools, 4 in Indiana and 9 in Texas. Florida and California also plan to open new schools. Deans at both Indiana Tech and University of North Texas acknowledge the decline in applications, yet each remains optimistic that his or her law school will be able to attract qualified applicants and that the individual law school will have a unique attraction to prospective students.
Since 2000, there have been 19 new law schools receiving accreditation from the American Bar Association, and it appears that more will be coming.
The full article can be seen here.
It is interesting to note that the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Legal Education met at the beginning of the month to consider changes to the way legal education is delivered. Some of the proposals include shortening law school to two years, making the Bar Exam easier and allowing for more practical hands-on training.
