Q: Is a law school education a good buy in the current economic environment? Why is law school so expensive?
A: Many changes have taken place in the 40 years I’ve worked in legal education. The growth in the cost of law school over that time is primarily the result of student demand for smaller class sizes and increased services and support. When I joined Fordham in 1972, classes were large and the student-faculty ratio was 40:1; now classes are small so students have a more focused, intensive learning experience and the faculty-student ratio is 15:1. There were two staff in the law library; now there are 26 library staff including 8 lawyer-librarians. There was no student services staff, and one person worked in career services; now there are four counselors and nine career services professionals. IT services did not exist back then; now we couldn’t get through a day without our IT infrastructure and staff.
