Over the past two decades, law school students have consistently rated their educational experiences highly. According to the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE), nearly 80% of law students have described their experience as “good” or “excellent” since the survey’s inception in 2004. However, significant disparities in satisfaction persist, particularly among students of color.

The LSSSE, conducted by Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research, recently released its 20th-anniversary report. The report reflects on changes in student diversity, debt, career aspirations, and overall satisfaction and paints a nuanced picture of the evolving law school experience and the remaining challenges.

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A More Diverse, Engaged, and Prepared Student Body

“Twenty years of data reveal that law students are more diverse, increasingly engaged, and better prepared than ever before,” said Meera Deo, a law professor at Southwestern and director of the LSSSE. Since 2004, more than 425,000 law students have participated in the survey, providing valuable insights into their educational journeys.

In 2004, 83% of law students were white. By 2024, that figure had decreased to 68%, signaling progress in diversifying the legal education pipeline. Additionally, the average age of law students has shifted. In 2004, only 1% of students were younger than 23, compared to 11% in 2024. This younger demographic reflects broader changes in the timing of career planning and entry into legal education.

Persistent Disparities in Student Satisfaction

Despite the increasing diversity in law schools, satisfaction rates among students of color remain lower than those of their white peers. In 2024, 84% of white students rated their law school experience as “good” or “excellent.” In contrast, only 67% of Black and 77% of Latino students expressed similar satisfaction levels.

This gap has persisted over the survey’s 20-year history, even as institutions have worked to foster more inclusive environments. Law schools are grappling with addressing these disparities while balancing broader issues such as student well-being and mental health.

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The Impact of Mental Health Challenges

One area of concern highlighted by the survey is the mental health of law students. Research indicates rising levels of stress, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion among students. In the 2021 survey, 91% of students reported experiencing increased mental or emotional strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite these challenges, overall satisfaction has remained stable. In 2021, 78% of students still rated their law school experience as “good” or “excellent,” demonstrating resilience in the face of significant obstacles.

Student Debt: A Decade of Change

The cost of legal education remains a critical concern, though debt levels have shown slight improvement in recent years. In 2004, 18% of students anticipated graduating with $100,000 or more in debt. This figure climbed to 43% in 2014 before falling to 36% in 2024.

However, debt burdens vary significantly by race. In 2024, more than half of Black (51%) and Latino (53%) law students expected to graduate with $100,000 or more in educational loans, compared to 32% of white students. These disparities highlight ongoing inequities in access to affordable legal education.

Career Aspirations Remain Steady

Over the past two decades, law students’ career goals have remained consistent. About 53% of students plan to enter private practice after graduation, while 26% to 28% aim to work in government roles. Careers in public interest law remain less common, with approximately 6% of students expressing interest in this field.

Despite the changing landscape of the legal profession, these trends suggest that students continue to pursue traditional career paths in law.

A Resilient Legal Education System

“The biggest takeaway from these findings is that legal education remains strong, despite recent dramatic upheavals around us,” the LSSSE report concludes.

The past two decades have seen significant shifts in the composition and experiences of law students, but the core of legal education has remained resilient. As law schools strive to address ongoing challenges—including racial disparities, mental health concerns, and rising costs—they continue to prepare the next generation of attorneys for an evolving profession.

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The post 20 Years of Law School Insights: Diversity, Debt, and Student Satisfaction Trends first appeared on JDJournal Blog.

Kaplan Bar Review has undertaken a new survey and the results are out. 63% of law school graduates feel that law school’s 3^rd year is completely unnecessary. This finding resonates with President Obama’s recent controversial statement to that effect. 712 law schools graduates were surveyed by Kaplan and 449 or 63% of them answered positively to the question: “Do you think the traditional three year law school education can be condensed into two years without negatively impacting the practice-readiness of new attorneys? The majority of students felt that the third year of law school could be cut with no material repercussions.

According to Business Insider, if the students had to take on a third year of law schooling, apparently 97% of them would prefer to “spend time actually practicing law” via part time work, or internships, rather than taking electives as law students typically do. Law schools face a declining enrollment currently, and are rather reluctant to cut revenues from tuition. Some schools are managing their legal programs without cost reduction. Brooklyn law school has managed to create a law school program that has three years of law school crammed into two years. The course requirements and cost are the same as a three year program, but students will save on living expenses overall. Brooklyn Law School Dean Nicholas Allard commented about the school’s program, “We’re not going to admit people unless we’re sure they can do they extra work. It’s a solution for people for whom time is money.”

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A new survey, the Law School Survey of Student Engagement, found that students who interacted more often with classmates and faculty members at their law schools improved their critical and analytical thinking, writing and research skills, and ethical development, according to The National Law Journal. The survey is conducted annually by Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research and focuses on law student satisfaction. The survey talks to 25,000 students at 81 schools across the country.

The authors of the survey wrote, “Our analysis reveals that interaction with faculty relates significantly to students’ perceptions of their own gains in both academic and personal dimensions.”

The extra involvement by the students helped them improve their legal skills and even helped them earn better grades. The students who told the survey that they interacted more often, also said that they enjoyed their law school experience much more. Interaction done by students included joining student organizations, study groups and social events.

Close to 86 percent of first-year law students surveyed said that they took part in a study group. Those students said that they had higher levels of satisfaction with their overall law school experience. The survey found that study-group participation did not relate to higher grades.

“I was interested to see that students who participate in study groups are more likely to evaluate their law school experiences positively and to say that they would have chosen the same law school. The message is that I, and my law school, should do even more to encourage this,” Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, wrote in the survey’s introduction.

Even though there are visible benefits for interacting with professors, 25 percent of those surveyed said that they never interacted outside of the classroom with faculty members. The same percentage of students also said that they never talked with their professors about career plans or job advice.

“While our findings aver the importance of student-faculty interaction, they also suggest that additional opportunities exist for more meaningful interaction,” the authors wrote. “Law schools may draw on these findings in considering strategies to promote and facilitate such interaction.”

For the most part, students seemed content with their satisfaction in law school. Seventy-nine percent of those surveyed rated their law school experience as “good” or “excellent.” The students were asked if they would attend the same law school again, with 33 percent responding “definitely yes,” 41 percent responding “probably yes,” 17 percent would probably not go to the same school again and eight percent definitely would not attend the same school a second time.

“Despite a growing chorus of crisis and disaster in the press, students’ evaluation of their legal education as well as their likelihood of attending the same school if they could begin anew have been remarkably stable over the years,” the study concluded.

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In a press release from Kaplan, the Kaplan Test Prep’s 2012 survey of law school admissions officers found that 51 percent of law schools decided to cut the size of their incoming classes. In the survey, 63 percent said that the reason for cutting the size of incoming classes was due to the job market contraction in the legal industry. The survey also said that of the law schools yet to cut class sizes, 28 percent said they likely will make those cuts for their current application cycles.

The survey found that 68 percent of the schools surveyed have changed their curriculum to better prepare their students to be ‘practice ready.’ Five percent of respondents said that they have decided to change the curriculum but have yet to put those changes in place. Nine percent of law schools surveyed said that they are thinking about changing the curriculum while 18 percent said they do not plan to change their curriculum.

Jeff  Thomas, the director of pre-law programs for Kaplan Test Prep, said, “With the supply of new lawyers outpacing the available number of positions for new lawyers, this is the most critical time for legal education in decades.  Our survey shows that law schools are taking much-needed action to better prepare new lawyers for the changing job landscape, while at the same time accepting fewer students, as they know jobs will not be easy to come by”

The survey did provide some good news for prospective law students. Forty-seven percent of law schools have been able to increase the financial aid amount they provide to students for the 2012-2013 cycle. Forty-one percent of law schools said that they kept their financial aid levels the same as the 2011-2012 cycle.

According to Thomas, law schools use financial aid as a tool to get the best applicants to apply to their school and then enroll in their school. Even though there has been a decrease in law school applicants, competition for a lower number of coveted seats that come with financial aid could increase.

“You can’t think about going to law school without thinking about how to pay for it.  The good news is that law schools still understand how important financial aid is for prospective students,” Thomas said.  “It’s important to keep in mind that financial aid from law schools is almost always merit-based, not needs-based, so assembling a stellar application that includes a high LSAT score,  strong GPA, well-written personal statement and compelling letters of recommendation is incredibly important.  Now more than ever, being a highly competitive applicant may earn you great rewards.”

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The global economic meltdown has students looking in the dwindling legal field, rather than in the disastrously impacted finance and banking sector.

The number of British law students planning to eschew the legal profession when they leave law school has fallen from 18% in 2007 to 13% in 2009.

Only 17 percent of the 2,500-plus students surveyed are considering working in investment banking, down from 25% two years ago.

Fifty percent of undergraduates want to be solicitors; 16% want to be barristers; and 22% would be happy either way.

Of those not intending to be lawyers, civil service and academia are the most popular options.

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Laptop computer use and its educational implications have sometimes generated heated debate among legal educators. LSSSE findings show that student use of laptops for keeping and reviewing notes and calling up previously briefed cases goes together with high levels of engagement in courses. So when used effectively, laptops may well enhance learning, rather than being a substitute for other kinds of course engagement or simply a distraction.

Also from the report: More than 90% of 1L students regularly come to class prepared, but only 75% of 3Ls do so. And 18% of students feel that their law school contributes very little to developing a personal code of values and ethics.

BTW, did anyone else notice that the LSSSE authors forgot to pay for their images? Oops.

Via The Chronicle of Higher Education via The UW Law Library.

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