MINNEAPOLIS — On a recent rainy spring day, students and professors at the University of Minnesota Law School looked ahead to year-end exams and May 14 graduation as they bustled between classes. But behind the academic routine, Minnesota’s administration, as at other law schools across the country, was striving to respond to the public’s growing disinterest in law careers.

The number of law school applicants nationwide has plummeted, to 51,000 as of April from 88,700 in 2006, according to the Law School Admissions Council. The Great Lakes region has been hit particularly hard, catching respected institutions like Minnesota by surprise when applicant numbers went into a tailspin.

It is the reverse of a trend that began during the enrollment boom of the early 2000s, when law schools were doing so well that some began moving to become self-financing entities supported by tuition and private donations. Now, as student enthusiasm for the law wanes, financially pinched schools need to decide whether sagging applications are a temporary blip or a fundamental course correction.

David Wippman took over as dean of Minnesota’s law school in July 2008, when packed classrooms were the norm. But it was not long before newly minted lawyers in Minnesota and elsewhere, some of whom had fled to law school during the economic downturn, found that their hard-earned professional pedigree did not necessarily land them jobs that would cover the six-figure cost. “We really experienced a steep decline in 2010,” Mr. Wippman said in an interview in his book-lined office.