The pipeline for diverse lawyers just isn’t flowing. At best, it’s a trickle. For African Americans at some law schools, it’s almost running dry. That’s my takeaway from the latest report on minority enrollment at law schools.
Reports Karen Sloan of The National Law Journal:
Minorities comprised slightly more than one-fifth of all J.D. students in 2003 and just more than one-quarter in 2012, according to the American Bar Association. That means legal education still has a long way to go before it reflects the diversity of the country as a whole, considering that minorities made up 37 percent of the population in 2012. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that whites will lose their majority status by 2043.
- Hispanics have seen the most growth. Hispanic representation among J.D. students grew from 5.7 percent in 2003 to 8.1 percent in 2012.
- Asians Americans are holding steady. In recent years, Asians have represented about 7 percent of law students. (The NLJ cautions, though, that the the ABA altered the way it collects data about Asian students so that it’s difficult to measure how much this group’s rates have changed.)
- LSAT scores are destiny. This should surprise no one: The higher your LSAT score, the higher your chances of gaining admission to law school. Average LSAT score for African Americans was 142; Hispanics 146; Asians 152; whites 153.
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