Law Schools

Without Enough Law Students, Law Schools Realize Money Needs To Come From Somewhere Else

There was a huge spike in non-J.D. program student enrollment compared to last year.

Apparently, law schools are finding students—domestic or foreign—interested in these programs. There’s no question schools are looking to other programs to make up the revenue shortfall in J.D. programs.

— Professor Derek Muller of Pepperdine University School of Law, commenting on the “surprise spike” of 20.5 percent in non-J.D. program enrollment according to
recent data from the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. Professor Alfred Brophy of the University of Alabama School of Law, didn’t seem to see what the point of these non-J.D. programs was, musing, “It’s not clear to me there’s a huge need for law-focused training outside the J.D.”


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.