Our legal education system is in deep trouble. According to a January article in The New York Times, nationally, applications to law schools have hit a 30-year low, due to the higher tuition and debt facing law students and because of shrinking employment opportunities. And The Wall Street Journal reported in July that law school applications have fallen by 36 percent over the last three years alone. Texas law schools are faring slightly better than the national trend but confront the same long-term challenges. [See Applicants Down, Tuition Up at Most Texas Law Schools, Texas Lawyer, Sept. 2, 2012, page 1.]
Faced with a shrinking applicant pool, law schools face a dilemma. If a school chooses to maintain the size of its entering class in order to maintain revenues, the quality of its entering classes will necessarily decline. This will eventually result in lower bar results, will dissuade employers from hiring the law school's graduates, and in turn, will make it more difficult for the law school to attract good applicants. On the other hand, if the law school chooses to reduce class size in order to maintain academic quality, it will be required to charge an increasing amount of tuition to make up for money which would have been paid by the missing students. The higher tuition then serves as a deterrent to enrollment in the school, requiring additional tuition increases.??
