In a historic milestone, women now make up the majority of law students in the United States, comprising of just over a 50 percent of the seats at accredited Law Schools in the country.

According to the American Bar Association, the number of male and female students enrolled in Juris Doctorate programs had been nearly equal until this year which also marked the first time women law students outnumbered their male counterparts.

Data released by the American Bar Association shows that 55,766 women were enrolled nationwide in a Juris Doctorate program compared with 55,059 men.

The released data also showed that over 51 percent of first year students were female.

The American Bar Association requires accredited schools to annually disclose data in a number of fields such as admissions, financial aid and employment outcomes.

Most law schools however, do not require students to identify their gender hence some students are not included in the data as they do not identify with either gender.

Overall, law school enrollment remains flat with only a tiny increase in first year students.

Enrollment numbers have stabilized after dropping drastically by almost 30 percent since 2010.

Women outnumbering men in law schools is a historical milestone as this was one area where male enrollment exceeded female enrollment despite women historically having earned 57.1 percent of college degrees.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.

Cover Photo: University of Michigan School of Law. Jason Crotty/Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Media outlets, government officials and citizens of the world were all astounded when news reports arose that a fake embassy in Ghana had been selling US visas for the past decade without arousing any suspicion.

For a decade, an American flag flew outside a battered pink building in Ghana, welcoming unsuspecting, out of town tourists.

Inside a painting of Barack Obama, the current President of the United States adorned the wall.

Located in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, the embassy sold illegally obtained authentic visas for a price of up to $6,000.

The embassy was said to be operated by a criminal network made up of Ghanaian and Turkish gangsters.

Operatives posed as consular officers and staffed the operation in the fake embassy.

The operatives were not American but spoke English and Dutch.

The State Department issued a statement which said “The criminals running the operation were able to pay off corrupt officials to look the other way, as well as obtain legitimate blank documents to be doctored.”

The officials also said that the embassy was shut down in the summer after a tip from an informant reached the Regional Security office.

Raids conducted resulted in the arrest of a number of operatives and also to the seizure of authentic and counterfeit Indian, South African and Schengen Zone visas as well as passports from over 150 countries.

Here is the actual US Embassy. Spot the difference?

It is unknown as to how the criminals managed to get their hands on these authentic visas.

The fake embassy was in stark contrast to the real US embassy which is a heavily fortified complex located in one of the country’s most expensive neighborhoods.

The fake embassy was open three days a week and did not accept walk-in customers. Instead, advertising was done openly on billboards.

Despite the size of the scam, the State Department told the Associated Press that no people entered the United States by using forged visas.

RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.