ABA Statistics have been updated! https://lnkd.in/daheWjQZ. For most people, the focus will be on the ABA 509 Data Overview (https://lnkd.in/drt2VJgg). For those of us working in the world of Non-J.D. Programs, thec is a great source of information.

The first thing that jumped out to me: Non-J.D. Enrollment is currently 21,044, down from last year at 21,292. I figured there was more to this story! Even though it was only a decrease of 248 Non-J.D. students, that didn’t tell us the relative fortunes of the different degree programs under the Non-J.D. umbrella. Very generally speaking, you can think of Non-J.D. degrees in six boxes (it’s more complex in reality):

Over the weekend I’ll be spending a lot more time looking at the numbers. Last night and this morning, I looked at the 2021 data compared to 2020 and 2019. The biggest things that jumped out to me, which I’ll cover in more depth, are:

• 2019 is a helpful year to look at for two main reasons: (1) it was the final year before the pandemic and (2) the ABA had schools break out Non-J.D. online enrollment from Non-J.D. Total Enrollment.
• Non-J.D. numbers are actually up since pre-pandemic! According to the data release, there are 1,225 more Non-J.D.s in 2021 than in 2019. This may confuse people who think of Non-J.D. and LL.M. interchangeably. But as readers of the blog have seen, Non-J.D. numbers are fueled by category #6, above.
• Looking at the difference between 2021, 2020, and 2019 at a select number of schools (and knowing the different programs schools run), it’s no surprise that schools focused entirely on recruiting category #1 students have struggled. To learn more about the different Non-J.D. programs offered by U.S. law schools, you can click here.
• I’ve been confident for a while that the present and future of Non-J.D. Programs is category #6. What I’m paying attention to is how much online transforms Non-J.D. Programs more generally. I think Category #4 and Category #2 will continue to take market share from Category #3 and Category #1. While the ABA doesn’t share that granular level of information, seeing program websites offers clues to things moving in this direction.

What would be nice for 2022 and beyond? For these statistics to:

• Break out the numbers for Online and Total, just like in 2019.
• Break out the numbers for degrees for lawyers/legal education and degrees for non-lawyers/without a legal education.

How should foreign-educated lawyers and law school graduates use this information? How should people who want to work in law schools use this information? And how should law schools without major Non-J.D. operations use this information? My thoughts, over the next month!