CASE STUDY
Outpacing the National Market in One of the Country’s Most Competitive JD Markets
Challenge
California Western School of Law needed to grow JD applicant volume in one of the most competitive legal education markets in the country.
That challenge is especially acute in California, where 17 ABA-approved law schools compete for the attention of many of the same prospective students. In this environment, standing out requires more than visibility. It requires reaching prospects early, staying relevant throughout the cycle, and converting attention into applications.
Approach
MF Digital built and managed a JD-focused digital enrollment strategy designed specifically for how prospective law students behave and make decisions.
The work included close collaboration with California Western’s internal marketing team and shoulder-to-shoulder coordination with admissions to ensure strategy and execution stayed aligned throughout the cycle.
Our work focused on:
- targeted paid search and paid social campaigns across the platforms where prospective JD students are most active
- customized messaging delivered to prospective JD students based on their interests
- speed to market that allowed CWSL to reach prospective JD students as soon as they entered the LSAT pipeline, giving the school an early advantage before competing law schools could gain traction
This was not generic higher ed marketing. It was a law-school-specific enrollment strategy built for a highly competitive state and a crowded JD marketplace.
Results
Before MF Digital, California Western was underperforming the national law school applicant market.
Year 0 before MF Digital
National law school applicant volume (LSAC): -3.0%
CWSL applicant decline: -6.9%
CWSL underperformed the national market by 3.9%
Once MF Digital launched our campaign, that trend reversed.
Year 1 with MF Digital
National law school applicant volume (LSAC): +5.7%
CWSL applicant growth: +6.2%
CWSL grew 8.8% faster than the national market
Year 2 with MF Digital
National law school applicant volume (LSAC): +18.0%
CWSL applicant growth: +25.9%
CWSL grew 43.9% faster than the national market
That progression matters. In a state as competitive as California, even matching national growth would have been meaningful. Instead, California Western moved from underperforming the market before MF Digital to outperforming it in both years of the engagement.
By Year 2, CWSL’s applicant growth rate was nearly 44% higher than the national market.
This was not simply market lift. It was market outperformance in one of the most competitive JD environments in the country.
Going Forward
California Western’s results show what can happen when a law school-specific enrollment strategy is executed with speed, relevance, and close coordination across marketing and admissions.
For law schools competing in dense, high-choice markets, the challenge is not simply to participate in a strong cycle. It is to gain ground within it.
At California Western, MF Digital helped the school do exactly that—reversing underperformance, accelerating applicant growth, and outperforming the national market in consecutive years.
READY TO INCREASE