It’s a challenging time in higher education and even the most prestigious law schools aren’t invulnerable. Between scrutiny over rankings, rising tuition costs, and student debt, many law schools have faced declining enrollments. Although total JD enrollments were up slightly from 2022-2023 (+0.2%), 1L enrollments experienced a decline (-1%), a trend that has persisted over the last 5 years other than a post-pandemic “blip” in 2021.
Source: American Bar Association
There are early signs that provide an optimistic outlook for the current admissions cycle – the number of law school applicants has experienced a spike compared to last year due to a variety of potential reasons, including the removal of the “logic games” section of the LSAT and it being an election year. However, it’s too early to determine whether this trend will continue for this or future cycles.
Non-JD Programs Showing Promise
A growing number of law schools have worked to diversify their portfolio to become less reliant on the JD for enrollments and revenue, as well as to help weather the fluctuating levels of interest in pursuing a career in law, which has proven to be the right strategy for many.
Case in point – although much lower in volume, non-JD programs (i.e., master’s, LLM, and certificates) have grown at a significantly faster rate over the last five years (+16%) compared to all graduate-level legal programs (+5%):
Data Source: American Bar Association
Based on our analysis of conferral trends, LLMs make up the majority of non-JD programs; however, these programs may face some headwinds in the near future. If history repeats itself, international student recruitment may be at risk of once again becoming disrupted, and only relying on LLM programs for additional revenue beyond the JD could potentially be a misstep, a trend to watch closely.
What will likely have less disruption is a master’s in legal studies degree program. In our estimation, this program category has grown ~27%-30% in the last five years, with indications that it will continue to gain traction. For example, using Google search volume as a proxy for future market demand, “Master of Studies in Law” / “Master of Legal Studies” has seen a 26% increase nationally over the last four years (29% for online programs). While this is an incremental increase, it signals optimism for this degree program.
Data Source: Google Search Volume
And while professional certificates are a relatively small part of legal graduate programs, this product category has also experienced growth:
Data Source: IPEDS
Takeaways
Taken together, these trends indicate that a growing demand exists for non-JD graduate programs, including certificates, as well as master’s in legal studies programs, which cater to professionals who are seeking foundational legal expertise but aren’t interested in practicing law. This has prompted law schools to introduce more diverse program offerings beyond traditional JDs and LLMs.
MLS and specialized certificate programs not only meet the needs of professionals seeking to enhance their legal acumen, but also open new revenue streams and broaden the impact of legal education by becoming more inclusive, providing opportunities for a wider audience to benefit from legal training.
Law schools that aren’t shifting their approach to diversifying their portfolio are at risk of being left behind and missing an opportunity to capture greater market share, as well as additional revenue. Given the growing demand and diverse applicability, now is the time for law schools to explore how an MLS and/or certificate program can enhance their portfolio and open new opportunities for growth. Doing so in a purposeful, data-informed way will be critical to the success of portfolio expansion by allowing law schools to understand their specific market, competitive environment, and institutional brand.
If your law school would benefit from a collaborative, objective strategic partner with proven higher education experience to help you navigate the myriad questions that should be answered specifically for your law school prior to implementing new program offerings, schedule a consultation with the Eduvantis team.