The MU Law School cut entering class sizes from 150 to 135 students for the fall 2011 school year, according to the _Transcript_, a biannual magazine for law school alumni. A huge factor to the cuts is the emerging tough job market for new lawyers, due to more law graduates than jobs available.
This movement can be seen around law schools across the nation, according to a survey by Kaplan Test Prep released Nov. 19. Kaplan surveyed admission officers of 123 law schools, including 15 from the top 25 schools during August and September 2012.
Fifty-one percent of the officers said they have already begun cutting their entering class sizes, and of those 51 percent, 63 percent said the downsizing was due to the contracting of the job market.
“We conducted this survey because as a company we help students apply to law schools by preparing them for the LSATs and also to look for ways to provide up-to-date information to students to make them more competitive and marketable,” said Jeff Thomas, Kaplan Test Prep’s director of pre-law programs. “What is really interesting is our annual survey of law school admission officers which give students information directly from the mouths of the admission officers.”
Besides the changes in class sizes, 68 percent of law schools have refurbished their curriculum to a more practice-oriented style, designed to provide students tools and opportunities to be more market-ready.
“What we are seeing is an evolution in curriculum in colleges,” Thomas said. “It’s becoming more practice ready, for example providing students with real clients and real cases for a practice experience of being an attorney.”
Thomas also mentioned students themselves must seek to take advantage of these practice-oriented opportunities, such as clinical work opportunities, concentrations in specific fields and international studies.
Even though law schools are receiving fewer students, Thomas said this still doesn’t change the way schools are accepting them. He said they are still maintaining a high standard of rigor and excellence.
In addition, Thomas said despite the contraction of the job market for lawyers, law schools are still handing out the same or increased amount of financial aid to students.
You can’t think about going to law school without thinking about how to pay for it,” Thomas said. “The good news is that law schools still understand how important financial aid is for prospective students.”
The downsizing of class size for the MU Law School is part of an MU-funded Law School Enhancement Plan effective for the next four years.
Casey Baker, the director of external relations at the School of Law, said the cuts in class size will not increase the school’s competition.
“There are still the same credentials for applications,” she said. “There is not a change in acceptance policy.”
This trend of evolving the curriculum to be more practice-oriented can also be seen at the law school. Since the decrease of class size leads to a lower faculty-student ratio, more emphasis can be placed on practice-oriented and career development classes with added faculty attention and support.
According to the article in the _Transcript_, the goal of the law school is “to give students more hands-on lawyering experience, much like our clinical programs already do. This includes representing clients in Boone County Court and drafting both litigation and transactional legal documents in law school classes.”
The law school also does not plan to change the way they award scholarships in response to the reductions in class sizes. The scholarships will be merit-based, not based on class sizes.
In regard to the future, the Kaplan survey stated that of the 49 percent of the schools who did not reduce class size, 28 percent plan to make cuts next year.
