Good News: Law Schools In Decline, Bar Passage Rates Plummeting

Bar-passage rates have plummeted in several big states, the National Law Journal reports, indicating that America's law schools may be accepting less-qualified students than they once did.

In California, for example, passage rates for the exam in July hit the lowest point since 1986, with just 46.6% of total applicants and 60% of first-time test takers passing.

In New York, the passage rate for first-time test takers dropped 4 percentage points since the July 2014 test, from 74% to 70%, hitting the lowest point since 2004.

Passage rates also dipped in Washington, DC, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Part of the blame for these abysmal bar scores stems from a low demand for law school. With fewer applicants to choose from, law schools may be selecting students who don't have the chops to actually become lawyers.

Law-school applications have declined almost 40% in the past five years, from 87,900 in 2010 to 54,130 in 2015, the National Law Journal -- citing the Law School Admissions Council -- reports.

In order to boost attendance -- and acquire more paying customers -- law schools have been forced to admit students with drastically lower GPAs and Law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores.

[...]Between 2010 and 2020, the economy will provide 21,880 jobs for new lawyers annually, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2013, citing the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But more than 40,000 students will graduate from law school each year.