Legal News

Study Shows Grim Outlook for Minority Law-School Enrollment

By Peter Lattman

Law-school enrollment of African-Americans and Mexican-Americans has fallen by 8.6% in the past 15 years, according to a Web site created by Columbia Law and the Society of American Law Teachers. And with anti-affirmative action admissions measures gaining traction around the country, the numbers could get worse, according to an NLJ story.

The decline has come as applications to law schools among those minority groups have remained constant and law school enrollment overall has risen since 1992.

“It’s not a pipeline problem,” said Conrad Johnson (pictured), a clinical professor at Columbia and Law Blog Moustache Society. who helped create the site. The stats, compiled from LSAC data, counter the notion that minorities are submitting fewer law-school applications. He did acknowledge an increase in blacks’ student enrolment in 2006, but said that the numbers are in overall decline.

Another professor, Vernellia Randall, a professor at Dayton Law who created something called The Whitest Law School Report, agrees, and thinks one reason is that schools are requiring higher LSAT scores, which results in lower admission numbers for minority groups. “It’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better,” she told the NLJ.

“The net result is that . . law schools are not progressing towards more inclusive admissions,” concludes the Columbia Law clinic’s Web site. “This affects everyone who is concerned about better education and a more representative legal profession.”

Readers, from your vantage point, what are the biggest hurdles to minority advancement in the law?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 17, 2008 (boomark / email).