Law school was a hot ticket in 2026, with an 8% increase in applicants hoping to spend the next three years getting a J.D. rather than enter a lackluster post-college job market.
That growth came on top of a blockbuster 2025, when the applicant pool surged 18% over the previous year. Nationwide, 82,484 people applied to an American Bar Association-accredited law school this year — the highest number since 2010, according to data from the Law School Admission Council.
ABA-accredited law schools enrolled a total of 42,817 new Juris Doctor students last year, suggesting that slightly more than half of 2026’s applicants are likely to show up on campus this fall. Official ABA enrollment figures won’t be released until December.
“You're looking at a significant increase over multiple years,” law school admission consultant Mike Spivey said of the growing applicant pool. “It means you have hyper competition to get into law school.”
The factors that motivated 2025’s law school applicants remain in play this year, experts said, particularly a weak job market for recent college graduates. College graduates often look to wait out tough job markets in advanced degree programs, including law school.
The unemployment rate for recent college graduates is nearly 6%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — higher than the 4% unemployment rate among all workers. Law school applicant numbers also spiked in 2010 amid the Great Recession and again in 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted entry-level hiring for college graduates.
The law class of 2024 posted a record-high employment rate of more than 93%, which may have bolstered interest in law school this year. But that could wane during the upcoming admission cycle, Spivey said.
Data from the National Association for Law Placement released this month showed that while the employment rate was high among 2025 law graduates because their class was smaller, the actual number of entry-level legal jobs declined across many categories, including large law firms and government.
That decline, coupled with speculation that AI will reduce the need for entry-level lawyers, could dissuade potential future law school applicants, said Susan Krinsky, the Law School Admission Council’s executive vice president for operations. Conversely, law school programs focused on AI could draw students, though it’s too soon to tell, she said.
Politically turbulent times can also bolster interest in law school as applicants look for ways to make a difference, said Bekah Saidman-Krauss, the council’s director of candidate engagement. Applicants increased significantly in 2017 after the start of President Donald Trump's first term. Law school hopefuls often highlight political issues in their personal statements and candidate interviews, she said.
“They want to get out there and be involved in advocacy and policy arguments,” Saidman-Krauss said. “Legal education is a great framework for that.”
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Politics and the job market made law school a hot ticket in 2025
Entry-level hiring at large US law firms declined for the first time in a decade, data shows
