Law Schools Still Benefitting From The Chaotic Political Climate

At least someone, besides Republicans, is benefiting from our crazy political times.

Well the Trump Bump is alive and well. For The uninitiated, the law school Trump Bump is the phenomenon in legal academia that more — and smarter —  people want to be lawyers because of the tumultuous political landscape, and it’s led to real changes in law school enrollment.

Now comes a new Kaplan Test Prep survey of more than 100 law schools. And it still looks like politics are influencing law school decisions. A whopping 84 percent of admissions officers say the current political climate was a significant factor in this year’s increase of 3.3 percent in law school applications. Of that 84 percent, 26 percent say it is “very significant” factor.

This is in addition to a separate Kaplan survey of over 400 pre-law students, where 41 percent of the students said that the political climate was behind their decision to pursue a J.D.

As one respondent noted:

“It’s getting harder and harder for people to come together over basic policies, and as a result, those with less influence (i.e. marginalized individuals/communities) are being forgotten. I want to be a lawyer in large part to bring a voice back to these individuals and fight for equality under the law.”

But as Jeff Thomas, executive director of admissions programs at Kaplan Test Prep, noted, it takes more than just a passing interest in politics to sustain an actual legal career:

“Since 2017, we’ve seen increases in both LSAT® takers and law school applications, which has fueled speculation about how much impact the political climate is having on the law school admissions landscape. At Kaplan we thought it would be worth securing hard data on the issue and tracking this for subsequent cycles. We now have an answer: the impact remains significant and appears to have staying power,” said Jeff Thomas, executive director of admissions programs, Kaplan Test Prep. “As law school admissions officers point out, caring about politics alone is not a strong enough reason to attend law school.  Your career in law will outlive any particular presidency. A term in the House lasts two years, law school lasts three years, and a presidency can be as short as four years, but your career will last decades. That’s why we continue to advise pre-law students to think carefully about why they are applying and what they plan to do with their degree in the long term.”

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Another trend of note is that law schools are getting increasingly selective about admissions, now that they have their pick of applicants:

“The fact that the number of 1Ls is essentially unchanged from last year despite an overall application increase suggests that law schools may be becoming more selective about who they let in. The number of jobs in the legal sector isn’t keeping up and they are mindful of that. It’s also worth noting that over the past year or so, several law schools have announced plans to close or not accept any new students. This is having an effect too.”

Just another thing to consider before you get your sights set on a J.D. that you’re convinced with help change politics as we know it.


headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).

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