Two years ago, Creighton’s Law School made the decision to reduce their class sizes by about 15 to 20 students. The Law School now looks to create class sizes between 130 and 135, instead of 150.
“In this recession which we’ve been living with for a while now, it seemed there would be some difficulty matching the large supply of students with the diminishing demand in the job market,” Marianne Culhane, dean of the Law School, said.
Many law students are glad that colleges are beginning to decrease their class sizes as a way to increase the students’ ability to find work after graduating. Chris Jackman, a third year student at Creighton Law School, said he feels that there is cause for concern about finding legal employment.
“Law schools have continued to churn out the same number of law students as they did before the economic crises of 2008 and there simply hasn’t been enough growth in either the private or public sector to absorb the influx of newly minted attorneys,” Jackman siad.
The Law School has also decided to look for areas of growth and find ways to best meet the needs of its students.
“We are really focusing on areas where hiring is not depressed and where there is still a large demand for hiring new lawyers,” Culhane said.
Three of these areas of special focus are within the fields of tax law, health care law, and employment for federal agencies. Within the past year alone, the Law School has hired new, highly esteemed professors, expanded their classes offered within these fields, and started new programs, including the Government Organization and Leadership (GOAL) Program, which allows students to complete a masters within the three-year span of law school, spend their 5th semester working and studying in Washington D.C., and graduate with both an M.S. and a J.D.
Janna Silvis is a first year student in the Creighton Law School’s Werner Institute for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution. Although she said she does have concerns about the diminished job market and worries about finding a job after her studies, she thinks Creighton does a great job of preparing its students for what is
to come.
“The Werner Institute does a great job of providing a variety of classes that are taught by extremely knowledgeable and relational people,” said Silvis.