According to a statement from the dean of the University, Francis J. Mootz III, “”In response to the unprecedented drop in applications to law schools across the country, McGeorge School of Law is reducing the size of its student body. The law school has reorganized the staff in Sacramento to align with its new size. The school first offered a voluntary severance plan to all staff members. This week it was necessary to lay off several staff members. McGeorge is going to be a smaller law school, but it will continue its proud tradition over 90 years of educating excellent attorneys.”
The Sacramento school was closed for the holiday weekend, but its spokesperson, Bethany Daniels was able to comment on the downsizing. She commented that “the number of layoffs was very small and the majority of reductions were voluntary.”
The McGeorge Law school follows a national law school trend. The law industry is slowing in its growth and as a result law schools are slowing in their growth. When the general economy is slowing its growth many industries follow suit. It is inconceivable that a slowing industry facing a decline of jobs available to law school graduates will have larger class sizes. I think the schools that notice the changing trends act in a socially responsible manner, by tightening their class size. Law school students are also faced with a massive amount of debt after graduation. And though the cost is a high value investment, with fewer opportunities in the industry, smaller class sizes seem to correctly correspond.
According to Sacbee.com, the industry has cited a decline in jobs available to law school graduates, and graduates across the county have complained about compiling significant debt in pursuit of their degrees. Last November, a National Law Journal report cited an American Bar Association figure that “approximately 8,000 fewer first-year law students will show up nationwide this year compared to two years ago, when enrollment reached an all-time high.” The report said those numbers represented a 15 percent decline over two years. The ABA’s Task Force on the Future of Legal Education, formed last year, is expected to release preliminary recommendations on law schools and the legal education industry by this fall.