The number of candidates applying to study law in the 2011 academic year has fallen by more than 5% on last year, according to figures published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).

The figures show that only 13,139 applied to study law at the 26 universities that supplied figures to UCAS, after 13,858 applied last year, equating to a drop of 5.2%.

University applications dropped by 9% across the board, which according to the body marks the biggest fall in more than three decades. Fifteen of 26 responding universities reported a decline in applicants, with City University in London stating that applications were down by more than 10%.

The figures will be seen by the legal industry as evidence of increasing numbers of school leavers being put off higher education by fears of debt in the wake of recent tuition fee hikes.

Several firms have moved to counteract this trend in recent months, with Norton Rose and Pinsent Masons both introducing apprenticeship programmes for school leavers aiming for non-legal careers at law firms.

Writing on his Lawyer Watch blog, Cardiff University law professor Richard Moorhead commented: "The main political story – one which should occupy the nation – is, and should be, the general decline in undergraduate applications and the impact on diversity within the undergraduate body generally. The Coalition has opted for a particular policy and should pay some political cost for adopting that strategy.

"The headline figures for the reduction in student applications for law, being considerably less than the figures for other subjects, suggests we should worry a little less, but it does not suggest we should not worry at all."

The total number of students applying to study law at university dropped for the first time in three years in September 2010, when it fell by 2.6% to 16,890, down from the 2009 high point of 17,346.