Looking at the Increase in the Number of Law Schools and Law Students, 1950-2010

There seems to be a consensus today that the United States has too many law schools and too many law students.

The table below looks at how we reached the current situation. It compares the increase in the number of law students and ABA accredited law schools to the general growth of the U.S. population on a decade by decade basis for the past 60 years.

Decade GeneralPopulation Increase Increase in Law School Combined Annual Enrollment Increase in Number of ABA Accredited Law Schools
1950-60 18.5% -16.9% 12.3% (114 to 130)
1960-70 13.3% 80.1% 10.8%  (130 to 144)
1970-80 11.5% 85.5% 17.4%  (144 to 169)
1980-90   9.8%   4.1%   3.6%  (169 to 175)
1990-00 13.2%   0.6%   4.0%  (175 to 182)
2000-10   9.7%  17.8%   5.4%  (182 to 200)

As the table indicates, there has never been a correlation between general population growth and increases in law schools and law students.

Although the decline in the number of law students in the 1950’s may be somewhat exaggerated by the fact that law school enrollment boomed in the late 1940’s because of the disruptive effects of the Second World War and the benefits provided by the GI Bill, the period was a remarkably stable era for legal education. Although the number of ABA-accredited law schools increased by 16 in the decade, there was no growth in the number of law students. Law schools remained essentially the same size across the decade or else reduced their enrollments.

In contrast, the decade of the 1960’s and 1970’s saw an enormous increase in the number of law students: a 234% increase over the 20 year period. (This figure compares the enrollment in the 1959-60 academic year with the enrollment in 1979-80.) This enormous growth occurred even though the number of law schools increased only by 30%, from 130 to 169. Obviously, lots of law schools got much larger in these two decades. Presumably, this increase was justified by an increase in the demand for legal services.

In contrast, the period between 1980 and 2000, was a period of remarkable stability for legal education. Total law school enrollment increased by less than 5% over the twenty year period, while the number of law schools increased by less than 8%.

Obviously, the stability of the final two decades of the 20th century ended in the first decade of the 21st. The current economic climate suggests that the nearly 18% increase in the number of law students was not economically warranted.

Why did this happen? What caused the controls exercised in the 1980’s and 1990’s to break down?

Knowledgeable observers are likely to cite the 1995 consent decree between the American Bar Association and the Clinton Justice Department in which the ABA agreed to relax the accreditation standards for new law schools. Moreover, in 2006, the Justice Department levied a fine on the ABA for violating the decree. Regardless of the degree to which the ABA lived up to its part of the agreement, it was clearly easier to establish a new ABA-accredited law school after 1995 than it was before.

However, the number of new ABA-accredited law schools in the first decade of the 21st century is not that out of line with the historical pattern. Between 1950 and 2000, the ABA accredited, on average, 13 or 14 new law schools per decade; between 2000 and 2010, the number was only 18.

While new law schools are responsible for part of the increase in the number of law students between 2000 and 2010, they do not explain the entire increase. Existing law schools also increased their size during the decade.

What the pattern will be in the 2010’s is not at all clear.

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People Who Have Shaped the Teaching Careers of Our Faculty—Part 4

The editors of the blog asked several law school faculty to write about the people who have been the most formative figures in their careers as legal educators. This fourth submission in the series is by Professor Chad M. Oldfather.

The path I took to law school was direct in the sense that I went right from college. But in more important senses it was as indirect as could be. Growing up as (what for the sake of simplicity we’ll call) a farm kid I knew no lawyers, and nothing of the world of business. “Work,” as I understood the term, implied getting dirt under one’s fingernails. My momma wasn’t gonna let me be no cowboy, but neither could the prospect of me being a doctor or lawyer or such have figured too prominently in her plans. The world of professionals was, to me, a great unknown, an uncharted land inhabited by a whole different sort of person.

All of which means simply that I’ve had a greater need for formative professional influences than the average bear. Like everyone else, I needed to learn how to be a lawyer in the sense of developing the necessary skills. But to a greater extent than most everyone else I also needed to recognize and then internalize the norms of professional interaction. Put differently, I knew there’d be unwritten rules. What I didn’t know was how they’d be different from the ones I grew up with.

I had the great good fortune to begin my career as a clerk to Judge Jane Roth.

Continue ReadingPeople Who Have Shaped the Teaching Careers of Our Faculty—Part 4

People Who Have Shaped the Teaching Careers of Our Faculty—Part 3: Lessons Learned from Professor Jim Colliton

The editors of the blog asked several law school faculty to write about the people who have been the most formative figures in their careers as legal educators. This submission, the third in the series, is by Professor Vada Waters Lindsey.

When I enrolled in law school, my goal was to become a lobbyist. I majored in Political Science as an undergraduate student, worked for a state senator as a legislative aide and believed that a law degree would help me reach my professional goals. Upon enrolling in law school, my interests immediately shifted. I loved the law school environment. Before the end of my first year, I decided that my future was in the legal academy. Upon reaching the epiphany that altered the course of my professional career, I began to study my professors’ teaching styles so that I could emulate them when I entered the academy.

Several of my law school professors have been formative figures in my career as a legal educator. I learned the importance of consistency from Professor Jeffrey Shaman. I found Professor Wayne Lewis to be the most proficient professor in using the Socratic Method. Professor Jerold Friedland became a lifelong friend and mentor. But, the professor who had the most profound impact on my career as a legal educator was the late Professor James “Jim” Colliton. I followed his footsteps by working at the Chief Counsel’s Office of the Internal Revenue Service upon graduating from law school, earning my LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown and becoming a tax professor. I took only one class with Professor Colliton – Estate and Gift Taxation. However, Professor Colliton’s impact on my professional life had little to do with the estate and gift tax principles such as the unified credit, marital deduction and Crummey trusts. Undoubtedly, Professor Colliton did an amazing job teaching those principles. What distinguished Professor Colliton from many other professors was his innate ability to connect with students both inside and outside of the classroom. Simply stated, Professor Colliton was one of the most supportive, helpful and caring faculty members that I have ever met. I graduated from law school over 20 years ago, but he remained a mentor and became one of my closest friends until he lost his courageous battle with cancer a few years ago.

As professors, our primary responsibility is to train future lawyers. I learned from Professor Colliton that that responsibility extended beyond the classroom. Excellent instruction is an absolute necessity. Professor Colliton was an outstanding in-class instructor, but he was also a tremendous mentor to students, including mentoring students who had never enrolled in any of his classes. I spent many hours in Professor Colliton’s office discussing careers in tax law. Therefore, I learned that law professors must not neglect the mentoring responsibility to law students. While the demands of scholarship, committee work, class preparation and other responsibilities are daunting at times, students should feel comfortable stopping by a professor’s office not only to discuss coursework but also to seek career advice, particularly during these weak economic times. Finally, I learned from Professor Colliton that the responsibility to our students continues after they graduate. When I decided it was time for me to enter the academy six years after graduating from law school, I sought Professor Colliton’s advice. He encouraged me to pursue my goals and was instrumental in helping me secure a position by guiding me through the whole process.

I have been in academia now for many years, and I know that the lessons I learned from Professor Colliton will last a lifetime.

Continue ReadingPeople Who Have Shaped the Teaching Careers of Our Faculty—Part 3: Lessons Learned from Professor Jim Colliton