Oh, the dark times of 2009. The nation’s economy was in the toilet, and layoffs were sweeping through the legal profession, taking career prospects from Biglaw and Small Law alike. The mask was pulled off of the industry: law school once seemed like a safe place to wait out economic downturns but with law firms experiencing record breaking layoffs the truth was out. The practice of law was revealed to be just as volatile as other jobs.
As a result of this massive truth bomb, the size of law school classes began to shrink. Why spend money on a post-college degree when it doesn’t improve your job prospects? You can apply for unemployment with or without a JD.
But now there may be hope for the size of the profession. LSAC, the organization that administers the law school entrance exam, the LSAT, has reported an almost 8 percent increase in people taking the exam (December 2016 compared with December 2015). That’s the largest year-over-year growth since December 2009. No — we aren’t back to pre-recession numbers of exam takers, but it just might be a start.
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We also want to be careful about saying the increase in December LSAT administrations will translate to a surge in attending law school for another reason and it’s a cyclical reason. In 2015, the fall LSAT administration, which is the most popular administration every year — was in early October. This year’s fall administration date was September 24th — more than a week earlier. Many test takers, particularly those still in college, typically ramp up their LSAT studying after Labor Day when the semester is in full swing. This year given the early LSAT administration, we found many students shifting their preferred test date to December, rather than the traditional fall.
[T]he fact that many Big Law firms have increased their salaries is a good sign. With quality of life and paying off student debt so top of mind to so many, this is the kind of stat that those considering law school pay attention to.
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Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).