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Law School Enrollment Statistics For 2007-08 Show Only Slight Changes

CHICAGO, March 4, 2008—A report on law school enrollment by the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar showed that total enrollment by students seeking the Juris Doctor degree, the basic law degree, increased only slightly during 2007-08, while enrollment of first-year students was nearly flat, compared to the previous year. 

Broken out by gender, the ABA report further reveals that total enrollment of male students increased slightly but first-year male enrollment dipped, and total enrollment by females decreased despite a rise in the number of women students in the entering class.  Minorities posted slight gains.

Details of these findings:

• Total enrollment for J.D. degrees increased from 141,031 to 141,433 from the academic year starting fall 2006 to the year starting fall 2007.  The increase in first-year enrollment was smaller, from 48,937 to 48,964 or only .1 percent.
• Looking at gender for all students enrolled for J.D. degrees, there were 74,946 males in the 2006 academic year, but 75,383 in the current year, an increase of .6%.  But the number of women decreased by .1 percent, from 66,085 in 2006 to 66,050 in the current year.  Males represent 53.2 percent of total J.D. enrollment this year.
• Among first-year students, the number of males dropped from 26,322 to 25,799, or 2 percent.  But the number of females increased from 22,615 to 23,165, or 2.4 percent. Males represent 52.7 percent of the first-year class.
• While the number of minorities enrolled for a J.D. degree increased from 30,557 in the 2006 academic year to 30,598 in the current year, they continued to represent 21.6 percent of all J.D. students. 
• While there was a .9 percent increase in the number of minorities enrolled as first-year students, from 10,898 to 10,992, as a proportion of the first-year class they dropped from 22.4 percent to 22.3 percent.

Other statistics detailing law degrees awarded, law school enrollment in total and broken out by gender and racial or ethnic group over time, as well as other information, are posted on the section’s Web site, at www.abanet.org/legaled/statistics/stats.html.

With more than 413,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

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