The Law School Survey of Student Engagement’s annual report, “20 Years of LSSSE: Sharing Trends in Legal Education,” revealed that law students are more diverse, increasingly engaged and better prepared than ever before.
The data looked at changes and trends in legal education from 2004 to 2024.
Meera Deo, director of LSSSE and professor at Southwestern Law School, said if law schools continue to work to improve community and lower debt, law students will be fully primed for successful practice.
Data from the annual report was based on responses from nearly 86,000 law students at 150 unique law schools that participated in LSSSE during five survey years: 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024.
Below are noteworthy findings from the report.
Increasing diversity
Students of color now represent 32% of all LSSSE respondents (up from 17% in 2004), with notable growth among multiracial and Latinx students. Women make up 60% of law students, compared to 51% in 2004.
LGBTQ+ representation has also experienced strong growth, rising from 4% in 2009 to 17% today.
Dramatic debt increases
In 2004, only 18% of all LSSSE respondents expected to owe more than $100,000 in student loan debt. By 2009, that number had skyrocketed to 39% and has remained at similarly high levels.
Only 11% of law students graduated with no educational loans in 2004; by 2024, a full one-quarter (25%) of law students graduated debt-free.
In 2004, there were only marginal racial differences among students expecting to owe more than $100,000 upon graduation. By 2024, 51% of Black respondents and 53% of Latinx respondents expected to owe more than $100,000 in law school loans, compared to 32% of White and Asian American respondents.
Expanded learning outcomes
In 2004, fewer than one-quarter (23%) of law students believed their schools did “quite a bit” or “very much” to help them understand people of different racial backgrounds; 20 years later, almost half (47%) of students believe their schools help in this way, contributing to their ability to work proficiently with diverse populations.
High levels of satisfaction
Over the past two decades, students have consistently reported high levels of overall satisfaction with law school. While overall satisfaction rates look surprisingly constant over time, there are differences by race, gender and raceXgender.
Between 2004 and 2024, roughly 80% of all law students consistently rated their overall experience as good or excellent.
White students report the highest levels of law school satisfaction (84% in 2024), while Black students remain among the least satisfied. Alarmingly, 28% of Black men and 33% of Black women rated their overall experience as fair or poor in 2024, highlighting persistent disparities in student experiences.
While law students today maintain strong bonds with peers (76%) and with faculty (73%), positive relationships with administrative staff have dropped significantly, from 65% to 68% pre-pandemic to just 59% in 2024 — the lowest level recorded in two decades.
Consistent job expectations
Between 2004 and 2024, roughly half (49%) of all LSSSE participants have expected to join private law firms upon graduation.
Expectations for work in government have remained between 26% (2004) and 28% (2024).
As over the previous two decades, roughly 6% of students expect to work in public interest law.
