Sherrilyn Ifill will lead the center. She holds the Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esquire chair in civil rights at Howard's Law School and is the former president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

American University's Washington College of Law tells Axios it's running roughly 15% to 17% ahead of last year's applicant pool. Howard University School of Law says it's seeing a 38.4% increase.

Online Programs in professional areas with the largest enrollments are evaluated annually by U.S. News, based on criteria such as employment outcomes of graduates.