Women Are Flocking To Law School Thanks To Donald Trump

The Trump bump is real, and women who want change in America are heading to law school.

You should go to a big, beautiful law school! (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Ever since the 2016 election and the legal turmoil that began shortly after President Donald Trump’s election (and has continued to this day), thousands of college graduates have been inspired to go to law school. According to LSAC data, the number of people taking the LSAT is up, and the number of law school applicants and applications are up. In fact, per a recent Kaplan Test Prep survey, 32 percent of respondents said politics were a motivating factor in deciding to apply to law school. As we mentioned previously, the law school “Trump bump” isn’t an alternative fact, it’s real — and now we’ve got even more proof.

BARBRI Law Preview, a member of The BARBRI Group, conducted a survey of over 500 pre-law students who will be entering law school this fall, asking questions about their political affiliation, their motivations for going to law school, and what they planned to do after graduation. Respondents’ answers seem to confirm and perhaps even magnify the existence of the law school Trump bump. “It looks like a blue wave of female democrats going to law school,” said Don Macaulay, President & Founder of BARBRI for Pre-Law. Let’s get to the results of the BARBRI Law Preview survey.

The vast majority of survey respondents identified as women (67.79 percent) with an affiliation to the Democratic Party (57.83 percent) who voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election (79.43 percent). About 70 percent of survey respondents expressed that they were “very unhappy” with President Trump and his policies. Survey results were almost evenly split when it came to the reason why pre-law students wanted to go to law school: 38.19 percent “have always wanted to be a lawyer,” while 37.58 percent “want to advocate for change of social policies in the United States.” Last, but certainly not least, a greater percentage of respondents indicated an interest in public interest careers after graduation (13.47 percent) than careers in corporate law (12.24 percent).

Law school may be the perfect place for women in America to resist, persist, and prove that the future is female. The law is a powerful tool, and we hope that women who want change will wield it wisely. We wish you the best of luck in law school!


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.

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