The older I get, the more I realize that diversity is so important in the legal profession. Yet, diversity seems to be declining in some areas.
According to Columbia Law School, law school enrollment of first year African American and Mexican American has been actually declining. And, whereas law school applications are down overall, we are talking about an unexceptionable trend.
This is particularly disturbing because over the last 15 years African Americans and Mexican Americans have been apply to law school in in relatively constant numbers. They have been doing better and better on all leading indicators to determine admissibility, such as GPA and LSAT. While during the same time both the size of law school entering classes and the total number of law schools has increased. There are now 4,000 more first year positions than 15 years ago at the same time that there are fewer applications for those spots overall.
The net result is that for African Americans and Mexican Americans, law schools are simply not progressing toward inclusive admissions. And, this affects everyone who is concerned about better education and a more representative legal education.
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