[Photo:  Harvard Law School, Langdell Hall  -  Chensiyuan / Wikimedia Commons]

For the first time, women make up a majority of law students, holding just over 5% of the seats at accredited U.S. law schools. Currently, 55,766 women nationwide are studying for a juris doctor degree, compared with 55,059 men, according to the bar association. First-year students are more than 51% women, or 19,032, and 48.6% men, or 18,058.

The A.B.A. requires accredited law schools to annually disclose data in several areas - including admissions, financial aid and employment outcomes - but not by gender, so there may be some students who are not listed as women or men.

Over all, law school enrollment remains flat, with only a tiny increase of a few dozen first-year students offering an encouraging sign. Enrollment is stabilizing after dropping almost 30% since 2010.

Female enrollment passing the 50% “is a milestone, but one to view with caution,” said Deborah Merritt, a law professor at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University. While the number of female law students was rising, a portion of women wound up attending lower-ranked schools. That undercuts their employment possibilities and their earnings potential since higher-ranked schools generally have better track records for placing their graduates in full-time, long-term jobs requiring a law degree, they concluded.