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Continued Decline in LSAT Administrations is Good News for Aspiring Lawyers

Is the continuing decline in LSAT takers a good sign for pre-law students?

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Taking the LSAT has apparently gone out of style. LSAC just released the numbers from the June 2014 LSAT, and only 21,802 law school hopefuls took the test. That’s down 9.1% from June of last year, and down 33.9% from the June LSAT’s peak in 2010. The last time so few took the June LSAT, Bill Clinton was president and Beyoncé was known primarily as a member of Destiny’s Child.

The continued decline in the number of LSAT takers is good news for aspiring lawyers as it’s likely that the number of law school applicants will similarly continue to decline. That, in turn, means less competition in law school admissions. Perhaps more importantly, there’s likely to be less competition for legal jobs in a few years, as that decline in law school applicants translates into fewer law school graduates.

In fact, it’s looking like the number of law school graduates and the number of legal jobs may converge as soon as 2016. In fact, Slate magazine recently published an article arguing that now may be a good time to go to law school. Though not everyone is quite so enthusiastic, it would be hard to dispute that now is a much better time to apply to law school than, say, four years ago.

However, these numbers should be viewed with caution. Even when legal hiring was at its peak, law school wasn’t a magic ticket to riches. Many law school graduates did very well for themselves, while others took on a great deal of debt to attend lower-tier law schools that gave them little chance of employment that would allow them to comfortably pay off that debt.

So while Biglaw hiring is on the upswing, if you want a triple-digit starting salary, where you go to law school remains very important. To that end, scrutinize law schools’ employment data carefully to see where your law school is likely to land you. In addition, think about trading a higher-tier school with full tuition for a lower-ranked school with a scholarship so that you don’t graduate with a crippling amount of debt. In the end, while graduates of lower-tier law schools may have a better chance of working as lawyers in a few years than they do today, many of the jobs available to them still won’t justify the expense and opportunity cost of three years in law school.

All in all, if you want to be a lawyer, now might be a great time to make that happen. But give yourself options by attending a good law school. Do this by getting a great LSAT score, writing a strong personal statement, and thinking carefully about whom you’ll ask for letters of recommendation. Moreover, apply to law schools that will give you a strong chance of doing the kind of legal work you think you might want to do. Carefully evaluate scholarship offers and the debt you’ll take on. Law school can be a very good decision, but it can be a bad one, too, even in a strengthening job market.

Finally, consider that even in the best of times, law school is a good decision only if you want to be a lawyer. If you’re thinking about law school because you don’t know what else to do with your life; think again. Try to work or intern in a law firm to find out what a legal career really entails. On the other hand, if you know you want to be a lawyer, you’re in luck. As long as you’re qualified to attend a top-tier institution, it’s a great time to apply to law school thanks to a continued decline in applicants and a great time to go to law school thanks to a recovering legal job market.

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