Georgia Law Schools' Enrollments Surge Past National Tide

New enrollment at four of five Georgia law schools rose this year, growing faster than the overall 3 percent increase for the nation’s law schools, according to figures released by the American Bar Association Friday.

Mercer University law school's incoming class grew by 16 percent, from 122 in 2017 to 142 this year. Emory University law school's incoming class was 13 percent bigger, going from 238 to 269 students. The University of Georgia law school class grew 10 percent, from 189 to 208 students. Georgia State University law school's class grew 6 percent, from 190 to 201.

The Georgia outlier was Atlanta's John Marshall Law School, which closed its Savannah campus this year, sending enrollment down 50 percent, from 216 to 108.

The national figures represent the first measurable increase in the size of the first-year class since 2010—when new enrollment peaked at more than 52,000. The number of new law students at ABA-accredited law schools fell 29 percent between 2010 and 2015, before leveling off at about 37,000 for the next three years. This fall, 38,390 new students showed up on campus, which is 1,070 more than the previous year.

The boost is welcome news for legal academics, who for years have hoped in vain for a turnaround in legal education’s fortunes. Waning interest in a law degree forced many schools to reduce the size of their faculties and make other cutbacks. Five schools have closed in recent years or will soon shut down.

The 3-percent increase in new law students this year isn’t unexpected. Applicants to law school surged 8 percent last year, according to the Law School Admission Council, fueling speculation that law school is once again a hot ticket. The Trump administration and discord in Washington are contributing to the added interest in legal education, according to deans and admissions officers.

Some schools appear to have utilized the larger applicant pool as an opportunity to be more selective about the students they admit, said Jerome Organ, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law who studies enrollment trends. Put another way, schools opted to admit fewer students than they could have, given the increase in applicants in order to bring in classes with higher Law School Admission Test scores and undergraduate grades, he said.

Still, the boost in applicants caught some law schools by surprise. Some ended up with larger 1L classes than intended, which is a reversal from the days when admissions offices were scrambling to fill up seats. More than half of schools—122—reported an increase in the size of their first-year class, while 81 schools told the ABA that their 1L class is smaller than in 2017.

It’s not just J.D. programs that gained in popularity this year. Enrollment in non-J.D. programs, which includes LL.M. and masters programs, grew more than eight percent from 2017.