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June 12 (Reuters) – American University law professor Padideh Ala’i’s spring international law class included practicing lawyers from Vietnam, Colombia and Azerbaijan — a global mix that she said enriched classroom discussions on tariffs, foreign trade and other topics.
Ala’i, however, expects fewer non-U.S. students in the upcoming semester thanks to a more than 20% decline in applications to the Washington, D.C., law school’s in-person Master of Laws (LL.M.) program — a one-year advanced degree for foreign-trained lawyers to study U.S. law or international law.
A drop in international students has shrunk the LL.M. applicant pool by 14% from last year, according to the Law School Admission Council, which maintains data on most LL.M. programs at U.S. law schools. China and India, which traditionally produce the biggest cohorts of LL.M. students in the U.S., posted applicant declines of 21% and 23%, respectively.
Enrollment numbers for the next academic year aren’t yet available, but the smaller applicant pool will likely translate to fewer international students on campus, said Gisele Joachim, the Law School Admission Council’s vice president for law school engagement. Student visa denials or delays could further depress international enrollment, she added.
Admission officers, professors and LL.M. admissions consultants attributed the declining numbers to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and anti-immigrant rhetoric, uncertainty over the availability of student and work visas, and stiffer competition from cheaper LL.M. programs outside the U.S.
“There is a feeling that the United States, generally speaking, is maybe not as welcoming to international students as it used to be,” Joachim said.
LL.M. applications to the University of California, Berkeley School of Law are down 20%, according to assistant admissions dean Joseph Lindsay, who said he’s doubtful the school will meet its fall target of 240 LL.M. students. Applications to the University of Michigan Law School’s LL.M. program declined 30% this year after an 8% drop the previous year, said senior assistant dean Sarah Zearfoss.
Law schools don’t publicly report acceptance rates for LL.M. programs, Zearfoss said, but the rates are kept relatively steady due to factors such as students’ English proficiency.
“You don’t want to admit people who are not going to be able to do the work,” she said.
The shrinking LL.M. figures reflect a broader decline in foreign students pursuing graduate degrees in the U.S., data shows. International graduate student enrollment was down 12% nationwide in the fall of 2025, according to the Institute of International Education, amid a 1% reduction in international students overall.
An April report from Shorelight Education, a company that helps universities recruit international students, found that the U.S. denied 35% of international student visa applications in 2025 the highest in a decade with Africa and Southeast Asia seeing even higher denial rates.
Foreign students look elsewhere
More than half of the 198 American Bar Association-accredited law schools have LL.M. programs for foreign-trained lawyers, which make up the bulk of international law student enrollment. An LL.M. from a U.S. law school can help advance foreign attorneys’ careers in their home countries or provide a path to take the bar exam and potentially remain in the U.S.
Fewer overseas students opt for traditional three-year U.S. law degree programs. Data from the Law School Admission Council shows that international student enrollment in J.D. programs at U.S. law schools declined nearly 6% in 2025, though comparable figures are not yet available for 2026.
For U.S. law schools, a sustained and significant dropoff in international students would affect both finances and demographics. Tuition for an LL.M. is typically the same as for a standard law degree — an average of $59,570 at private schools and $32,040 for in-state public schools, according to AccessLex Institute. However, fewer LL.M. students receive financial aid, making the programs a key revenue source.
Even before President Donald Trump returned to the White House, U.S. law schools were facing more competition from less expensive LL.M. programs in the U.K., Australia and Europe, said Sylvia Polo, an admissions consultant who previously ran the LL.M. programs at Columbia Law School and the University of Miami School of Law.
“I’ve had people say to me, ‘I always wanted to do an LL.M in the states, but now I want to do it in the U.K,’” Polo said.
Many of the law schools with the largest LL.M. programs, including Columbia, New York University,
Harvard, and Georgetown, declined Reuters’ requests to discuss their international applicants and enrollment projections.
It’s not yet clear whether this year’s decline in international applicants is a temporary setback or the start of a sustained contraction, but U.S. law schools should look at lowering costs and reinventing their programs to stay relevant, said Ala’i.
“It’s becoming increasingly harder to keep our competitive advantage because of our cost structure and the problem of getting students to want to come to the United States,” she said.
https://www.reuters.com
Reporting by Karen Sloan
