Application Rates Continue to Plummet

Class sections altered, career services improvedSophie MattsonTHE SANTA CLARAMay 8, 2014When the economic recession hit in 2008, thousands of corporate lawyers found themselves scrambling for work, and the legal profession found itself in a tailspin. Six years later, the damage from the recession continues to negatively affect enrollment rates at the Santa Clara School of Law. In 2009, 311 admitted students enrolled in the law school, while only 246 students enrolled in 2013. This number is expected to decrease further in the coming year. In an email, Julia Yaffee, the senior assistant dean of the School of Law, said that the incoming class is predicted to be fewer than 200 students. The accurate figure will not be confirmed until July.The number of completed applications has continuously dropped. In 2010, there were 4,973 applicants, but there were only 2,616 applicants to the law school in 2013. In response to the decreasing student body, the School of Law has cut back on its number of class sections. “We are responding to the marketplace,” said Yaffee. “We do not want to graduate more students than can find jobs. We are going to be, in the long run, about 30 percent smaller. We will redeploy resources, (and) we are looking to take this as an opportunity to benefit students. With a smaller student body, we have a smaller student-faculty ratio.” According to Yaffee, the School of Law will be placing a greater emphasis on career services and providing opportunities for experiential learning like continuing its entrepreneur’s law clinic. It will also promote alumni relations in order to assist its current and future students. “The legal profession nationally is going through tremendous change and I think the market turnaround will be steady but cautious in traditional jobs,” said Dean of the School of Law Lisa Kloppenberg. “We are fortunate to be in the Silicon Valley, where law-trained graduates can use their skills in the global technology sector in new types of positions.”Despite the ongoing employment crisis within the law profession, Assistant Dean Bryan Hinkle anticipates that the decline in law school enrollment will eventually cease, which is indicated in nationwide statistics. “It is difficult to predict future applicant behavior, but the decline in applications nationwide and at Santa Clara is not as steep in this admissions cycle,” said Hinkle. “The numbers indicate that the decline is tapering down.” It is not clear when the number of applications received by the law school will plateau, but there are signs, such as a slight increase in the number of test takers for the February 2014 LSAT, that the national pool may be starting to stabilize.According to Hinkle, Santa Clara supports the School of Law’s decision to scale back the size of its law program and is currently in the planning process of moving the law school closer to Lucas Hall. Despite this future move, the School of Law is not expected to return to its previous size. “We have made a commitment that we want to be the right size for our location (and) for job opportunities,” Yaffee said. “The faculty has had a discussion, and people have said (that they) do not see anything in the future that would cause us to want to be larger.”Despite its smaller program and decline in enrollment rates, Kloppenberg believes that the School of Law will continue to carry out its mission as an institution. “With the support of the university, our Jesuit tradition, our location and strong alumni base, the school’s future is bright,” said Kloppenberg. “We will be smaller and selective, but we will continue to emphasize our strengths in technology law, global law and social justice and public service.” Contact Sophie Mattson at smattson@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.