Reading the Tea Leaves About Law School Futures

Depending on which brilliant economist, legal thinker, local law school administrator, or aspiring lawyer you talk to, going to law school is a) a permanently flawed economic investment; b) a temporarily flawed economic investment; c) a wise idea in the long run; or d) uhhhh, what was the question?  The most recent volley in the ongoing online conversation is How Inelastic is Demand for Law School? (Testing The Limits) from Brian Tamanaha. Tamanaha challenges the assertion of fellow Balkinization contributor Gerard Magliocca that law school enrollment seems relatively inelastic. Tamanaha notes that the number of law school applicants has gone down by more than 20 percent since 2004, and he thinks the decline may well continue and offers the follwing chart in evidence: 


He thinks, in contrast to past periods of high unemployment, we may have reached the point at which would-be law students decide that law school costs too much for what they get in return.