Study shows SLU’s decline in law school enrollment

Saint Louis University School of Law is among the 25 law schools with the largest percent declines in enrollment, according to a new study by legal education magazine The National Jurist.

Enrollment at SLU Law declined by 30.2 percent since 2010-2011, the magazine said, for the 18th-highest drop. It was the only Missouri law school on the list.

“In response to the nationwide declining applicant pool we have chosen not to lower our admissions standards but simply to get smaller,” said Michael Wolff, dean of SLU Law.

The National Jurist compared 2010-2011 data from the American Bar Association’s Official Guide to Law Schools with 2013-2014 data from the law schools’ most recent ABA reports, according to its Feb. 17 article on the study. The article said that it compared data for 196 law schools, and that the median law school saw enrollment drop 10.8 percent. It only found 16 schools with an increase in enrollment.

The hardest-hit school by percent decline, the study found, was the University of La Verne College of Law, in Ontario, Calif. Enrollment there dropped by 66.2 percent. By raw numbers, Thomas M. Cooley Law School, which has five campuses in Michigan and California, saw the largest drop, from 3,931 in 2010-2011 to 2,334 in 2013-2014.