National Law Journal, Hope Drives Rise in Law School Applications:

Despite grim job statistics in nearly every corner of the legal world, law school applications increased by 7% over last year.

Law school applications increased by 7% and the number of applicants by 3% nationwide for this year's incoming class compared to last year, according to the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). A handful of law schools saw their applicant pools swell by 30% or more. …

School	Increase
Alabama	70%
Maine	65%
Cornell	50%
Illinois	37%
Iowa	36%
Yale	13%
UC-Berkeley	5%
Harvard	2%

The number of lawyers at the 250 largest U.S. firms fell by 4% last year, according to The National Law Journal's 2009 survey of the nation's 250 largest law firms. The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that the legal sector shed 22,000 jobs in the past year.

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