After 50% drop in 1L academic dismissals in 2020, little increase in 2L academic dismissals in 2021

Last year, I flagged the sharp decline in 1L academic dismissals in 2020. 1L academic dismissals declined by more than 50%. I wondered if moving to pass-fail grading made schools reluctant to academically evaluate 1Ls with typical academic dismissal, and I wondered if we’d see an increase in 2L academic dismissals this year.

Cumulative 1L academic attrition rebounded to its 2019 level. But 2L academic attrition rose only slightly compared to 2020 and remained below 2019. (I also include “other” attrition, which includes withdrawals among other catch-call categories, for some comparison, too.)

	1L Attrition		2L Attrition
	Acadmic	Other	Academic	Other
2019	1186	219	1012	241
2020	545	113	841	240
2021	1113	296	940	309

In short, it seems a good number of 1Ls reaped a benefit of pass-fail grading in the Spring 2020 and avoided academic dismissal. That’s great news for 1Ls who spent 2 years in law school and can finish their third year to earn a JD. On the back end, it remains to be seen whether these students have more difficulty passing the bar exam. But it doesn’t appear most schools returned to now-2Ls to revisit their academic performance.