law school applications rise

Mississippi is reporting a drastic increase in the number of students applying to law school. They estimate approximate twenty-three percent more applicants. That's a small number compared to the eighty-five percent increase reported by the University of Maryland School of Law, which received almost 5,000 applications to fill 225 spots for this year's fall classes. The Miami Herald reports of a twenty-two percent increase nationwide. They place the number of applications by late March to have been 80,795. The amount of people who registered to take the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test) was 133,800. A couple of the articles speculate that the reason why there are so many people applying for law school has less to do with any increases in jury awards, and more to do with the weakness of the economy. I was hooked on the idea after helping a friend in law school proof read a couple of his papers. To those of you who are lawyers, or are thinking of applying, what brought you to that decision?