Reuters: “Thousands of first-year law students faced stiffer competition than usual to secure a place on campus this fall.
The number of U.S. law school applicants surged 18% last year, the highest year-over-year increase since 2002, according to data released by the Law School Admission Council. There were 76,599 applicants, an increase of 12,000 from the previous year when applicants were up 5%. American Bar Association-accredited law schools enrolled nearly 40,000 students in 2024.
The pool of applicants could be just as big or larger next year. Numbers of registrants and examinees for the Law School Admission Test in August, September, and October are all up by double digits from last year.”
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Harvard Law School
Black Student Enrollment Rebounds at Harvard Law
Harvard Crimson: “Harvard Law School enrolled more Black students in its 2028 J.D. class than last year, bouncing back from a major drop for the Class of 2027, according to Bloomberg News, which cited unnamed sources.
The number of Black students increased from 19 to a number similar to the average from 2020 to 2023 — 46 Black students, according to admissions data released every year in December by the American Bar Association. Bloomberg did not report the total number of Black students enrolled in the Class of 2028, and a HLS spokesperson declined to comment on the increase.
The HLS Class of 2027 — the first admitted since the Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action in university admissions — included the smallest share of Black students at HLS since the 1960s. The number of Black students reached its peak in 2009 with 67 students but decreased to 31 in 2016.”
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Arizona Proposes One-Year Law Program
FOX10: “Arizona could soon become the only state in the country where the person representing someone in court on a criminal charge might have just one year of law school.
Under the proposed “Master of Legal Studies Criminal Law” program, students would take only one year of courses, followed by one or two years of supervision by an experienced attorney.
After the requirements, including passing some kind of exam, are met, they could represent clients.”
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Bar Exam Scores Hit Record High
Reuters: “The national average score on July’s 200-question Multistate Bar Exam was the highest since 2013, the National Conference of Bar Examiners said Thursday, excluding results from 2020 when the test was delayed or modified due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The MBE is one of three components of the national bar exam required for attorney licensing and accounts for 50% of a bar taker’s score in most jurisdictions. The average score was 142.4 in July, up 0.6 points over the previous summer.
“Due to this increase in mean we expect to see a small increase in overall pass rates compared to last July,” said Bob Schwartz, the national conference’s managing director of psychometrics.”
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