A Snapshot of Gender Disparities in Legal Education

A new report from the AccessLex Institute finds that 56 percent of all students who applied to law school in 2002 were women and 42 percent were men. Two percent of all applicants identified themselves as having “another gender identity.” The percentage of all applicants who are women has edged up slowly in recent years

In 2022, 68 percent of women applicants who applied to law school were accepted to at least one law school. In contrast, 71 percent of all male applicants were accepted to a law school. In 2018, 75 percent of male applicants and 71 percent of women applicants were accepted to a law school

In 1983, women were only 38 percent of all students enrolled in law school. In 2016, the number of men and women enrolled in law schools was just about equal. By 2022, there were 65,100 women enrolled in law school compared to 51,000 men. Thus, women made up 56 percent of all law school enrollments.