AccessLex Institute Research
Document Type
Law Review Article
Publication Date
3-2026
Keywords
law school, enrollment management, legal job market, antiracist practices, tuition discounting
Abstract
For most law students, attending law school is an investment. At stake are immense amounts of time and money spent pursuing the degree. The most desired payoff is a lucrative and fulfilling career. This chapter argues that law schools must adopt enrollment management practices that attempt to account for the job market their entering students will face at graduation. In proffering this argument, the chapter presents a conceptual framework for aligning class size targets to the future job market and proposes an equity-based approach to tuition discounting that accounts for job market racism. Graduates of color, particularly Black graduates, experience less favorable job market outcomes than White graduates. These disparities are exacerbated when schools produce more graduates than the job market can absorb. Graduates of color also tend to pay more for law school, due to lower odds of receiving tuition discounts. Enrollment managers can help reduce the harmful impacts of these realities by rooting enrollment management practices, including class size targets and discounting strategies, in equity and systemic antiracism.
