They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which is one of the reasons I look forward each year to the release of AccessLex Institute's Legal Education Data Deck.

For the uninitiated, the data deck pulls together the latest figures on law school applications and enrollment, diversity, affordability, bar pass rates, and legal employments using information from the American Bar Association, the National Association of Law Placement, the Law School Admission Council and the U.S. Department of Education.

It's nearly 40 pages of easy-to-digest charts that offers an expansive look at how legal education is doing. The data isn't necessarily new, yet seeing it all packaged together always helps me get a fuller sense of where law schools are doing well and where they are falling short. After perusing this year's entry, I hopped on the phone with Tiffane Cochran, the director of research at AccessLex, to get her take on the purpose of the data deck and what this year's numbers tell us.