As the economic slump continues, law school applications nationwide are plummeting toward a 30-year low. Newer law programs are finding it difficult to compete against well-established schools like Harvard and Yale. But despite its recent founding in 2006, applications to the Elon University School of Law have risen above the national average.
Last year, the national law school application average was down slightly more than 20 percent, while Elon’s applications were only 15 percent below average, according to Elon’s Associate Dean of Admissions, Sharon Gaskin.
Elon’s law school focus on innovative, engaged learning and small class sizes has kept it afloat through economic recession, according to David Crowe, a professor of legal history at the law school. It all comes down to leadership, he said.
“The leadership of the law school is very innovative. They’re not waiting,” he said. “They’re reacting to this already and seeing this in the future.”
Much of legal education is tied in tradition, according to Crowe. The strict, three year curriculum leaves little room for adjustment and specialization, he said, though he shares with his colleagues a different vision for Elon.
“The beauty of being a new law school is the flexibility,” he said. “But you have very rigid barriers in that you have to prepare these kids to pass the bar.”
Of the economy, Crowe said he was optimistic for a recovery, particularly regarding the legal profession.
“Law schools have not really watched the bottom dollar figure. And now they’ve been caught into a bind,” he said. “We have to be sensitive to these issues, but also recognize the time frame in which they have taken place and look five to ten years down the road.”
Some students applying to law schools now, though, are concerned about their employment prospects. And according to Elon University senior Ben Unger, a prospective law student, it all comes down to supply versus demand.
“In general the economy itself isn’t good, and jobs are facing recession and the legal markets being hit pretty hard,” he said. “There are not enough legal jobs as is, and when you have 200 schools you’re not going to get jobs.”
And the Elon undergraduate experience may not adequately prepare students for law school, Unger said.
“I feel like education at Elon is the stress of the liberal arts, which is good for a lot of students because it gives you a well rounded education,” he said. “But at the same time, I feel like a lot of kids leave this school without particularly knowing what they want to do, unless they’re in the more specific business and communication schools.”
Though it is not recognized as a top 25 law school, Elon Law School has found other ways to attract interested students. The students pick Elon as much as Elon picks them, Crowe said.
“There’s a romance about the law in people that want to go to law school that you don’t find in graduate school,” he said.
The student interested in Elon’s law school is one who is drawn to small class sizes, discussion-based teaching and a dynamic student-faculty relationship, according to Crowe, similar to the students interested in Elon’s undergraduate school.
“In the end, I think the key to really innovative education is the special student teacher relationship,” he said. “One of the dynamics of law school is that interaction in class is much more important than in undergrad, or even a graduate class.”
In the end, there may not be as much to worry about as people think, Crowe said.
“Long range, you’re always going to need attorneys," he said. "We live in a very litigious society There’s going to be a demand for attorneys down the road.”