The dramatic drop in law school applicants -- a 40% decline between 2005 and 2014 -- has many wondering when demand for a law degree will finally rebound.

Not this year, at least. The latest numbers released by the Law School Admission Council indicate that the downward spiral is still...spiraling.

As of April 17, 47,172 people have applied to go to an accredited U.S. law school this fall, according to LSAC, which administers the LSAT entrance exam. That's a 2.6% fall-off compared to a year ago. Applications are down 4.7% from 2014.

At this point in the calendar, it's highly unlikely that 2015 will end up in positive territory. Applicants usually have until March 1 to apply for regular admission, but it takes longer for the data to get reported to LSAC and to be posted online. In 2014, LSAC’s mid-April numbers ended up representing about 89% of the final tally for that year’s cycle.

What to make of the trend? These applicant numbers can't be comforting to law school administrators. But the trend also reinforces a point made by Law Blog and others: more scarcity means less competition. A Bloomberg Business article puts it more bluntly, declaring it the "perfect time to apply to law school."