Why 2017-2018 Will Be a Fantastic Time to Graduate from Law School
A few years ago while working at a law school, I accidentally spiked our daily admissions numbers. What did I do? I unthinkingly threw in the word “today” by telling people to apply “today” to receive a fee waiver. I didn’t mean that today was the only day to do it, but that’s what the recipients of the e-mail believed. Which meant we received about 25 responses when we would have normally received only 5 or 6.
Why am I telling you this? Because I want prospective law students to know that this time I mean it. Enroll today or you will miss out on what might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Namely, the chance to graduate from law school in 2017-2018, which will likely be one of the best times ever to graduate from law school.
Really? Are you serious? Haven’t we heard this before? In 2008, we said “Don’t worry law applicants, by the time you graduate in 2011, everything will have recovered and your employment prospects will be boffo.” The next year in 2009, we said “Don’t worry, in 2012 the economy will be booming and law firms will be beating down your door to hire you.” In retrospect, our advice was lousy as 2011 and 2012 were two of the worst years ever to graduate from law school. 2013 and 2014 have only been marginally better. The truth of the matter is, there was, and continues to be, a significant imbalance between the number of law school graduates and the number of desirable jobs available to those graduates. In a nutshell, the supply of law school graduates is significantly greater than the demand for them.
This reality continues today. Although we’ve seen noticeable improvement since the depths of the recession, that supply/demand gap persists. But it won’t persist. It will change significantly for the better. How do I know this? Because we know that the gap will almost entirely disappear by 2017-2018.
In the next few posts I will review the supply of law school graduates, the employment demand for the graduates, and what the market will look like in 2017-2018.