Entering JD and LLM classes among most diverse in Law School history
Students of color make up 44% of the JD class of 2025, the highest ever, and the LLM class of 2023 includes the most students from the African continent the program has ever enrolled.
The JD and LLM classes that entered Duke Law School this month are among the most diverse in school history.
Students of color account for 44% of the JD class of 2025, the highest the Law School has ever achieved. They include record percentages of Latinx and Asian American students.
The LLM class of 2023 includes the highest number of students from the African continent the program for foreign-trained lawyers has ever enrolled, and women outnumber men among LLMs 53% to 47%.
“I am thrilled to welcome JD and LLM classes that so beautifully embody the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Kerry Abrams, James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke Dean of the School of Law. “We are fortunate to have these talented and accomplished students as members of the Duke Law community.”
The first-year JD class is made up of 225 students enrolled from 6,250 applicants. They represent 109 different undergraduate institutions and hail from 35 different U.S. states and territories as well as nine other countries.
More than one-quarter of the first-year JD class are the first in their family to go to college or professional school, and 10% are international students. Twenty-two percent of 1Ls reported that they identify as LGBTQ+.
And for the fifth year in a row, women comprise more than half of Duke Law’s entering JD class. Another 1% identify as non-binary.
The 88 students in the LLM class hail from 37 different countries, including the first students the program has enrolled from Albania and Kuwait.