Fewer Black And Mexican-American Lawyers

Glenn Beck has admitted that he does not have "a lot of African-American friends", and recently stated that the term African-American is a "bogus, PC, made-up term ... that is not a race."  Regardless, diversity in law school and, hence, diversity in the practice of law is so very important.  It represents the demographic of the marketplace, it has shown to improve satisfaction in services offered and it promotes inclusion.  More diverse law school classes means a more diverse legal profession, which means a more diverse judiciary, and so forth.  And, this means improved decision making, problem solving, greater creativity and innovation.  Our system of laws simply are better equipped to understand and serve a more diverse group of people, as is our nation, more equitably.

We can look at it in purely racial terms as well, but that is not always accurate. Glenn Beck aside, let us just say that we are past apartheid a long time ago, and what is important for our nation, courts, law schools and legal system going forward is pluralism.  You do not achieve pluralism without diversity. If you pretend that race is not now playing a part, that is a problem not just for you but for our nation.

This is the reason that it is concerning when Columbia Law School Professor Conrad Johnson, in his study, points out that fewer African-Americans and Mexican-Americans are being admitted to our law schools.

Originally reported in the New York Times, the study was also covered on NewsOne.Com.  Professor Johnson points out that while law schools added about 3,000 seats for first-year law students from 1993 to 2008 that both the percentage and number of African-American and Mexican-American law students have actually declined during that same period.  And, what makes the decline even more painful is that both groups improved their college GPAs and LSAT scores during that period.

The number of African-American and Mexican-American students apply to law schools has been relatively constant, or growing slightly, for two decades.  But from 2003 to 2008, 61% of African-American applicants and 46% of Mexican-American applicants were denied acceptance at all of the law schools to which they applied, compared with 34% of white applicants.

It is a very disturbing trend, and from my observation what is interesting is that I see historically African-American law schools accepting more white students as a percentage of their entering classes, while the other law schools are not reciprocating.

This trend will have an impact on diversity, acceptance, recognition and our society as a whole in the coming years.  Therefore, it needs to be identified and corrected.

Comments

[mack j.]

how about just basing acceptance on achievement not skin color

[Judy Young]

how about not letting skin color drive one's perception of achievement.

[Chuck Newton]

Here is a thing about the skin color argument, law schools right now do not much consider skin color. Yet, GPAs and LSAT scores are rising among African-Americans and Mexican-Americans. Almost every student is selected presently on "Merit". There are probably more so-called "legacy" acceptances than there are affirmative action acceptances. So, there is something more systemic in our system as to why his is happening. We have got to get to the bottom of it. We probably know it has to deal with poverty and level of wealth. We have known for some time that wealthier kids are the ones getting into law schools. And, it is no secret that African-American and Mexican-American kids have a larger percentage of poverty. And, then the issue about "merit" is what constitutes "merit". It is all relative, is it not. Are you going to judge someone that that graduates number one in his class in some rural environment with someone that graduates number one from The University of Texas, for example? The same for intercity schools and institutions. It is fine for white kids, from middle class and up backgrounds to feel victimized by only achieving 90% or higher of most law school entering classes. But, this lack of diversity is not good for anybody, much less society. The only truly racially diverse law schools in this country are the historically black law schools. This is because they are typically taking over half of their classes these days from non-African Americans.

[Lesly Carmen Longa]

Wow, that is shocking. I am a Cuban-American attorney, but did not disclose my ethnicity on law school applications. I chose "other." I received a scholarship too. After law school I had a tough time finding a job and was told to remove activities like the Latin American Law Students Association from my resume. It helped. No more interviews where I was asked what generation American I was (first was never the answer they expected from someone without an accent & I just couldn't stop myself from answering)...