Law Schools

Law Schools Need To Prepare For A World Without Affirmative Action

Increasing diversity in the legal profession is a complicated process.

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It’s no secret the legal profession is less diverse than it should be. Only around 15 percent of the profession are people of color, compared with 40 of the population. According to a new report by AccessLex Institute, efforts to diversify the profession have to happen way before students are applying to law school.

As reported by Big Law Business, family role models in the profession is a key factor in keeping the profession white:

Students from less privileged backgrounds often have no role model in the family or community to prompt them to choose the legal profession as a career, a finding that also cropped up in a separate recent law school association study of students.

Fewer than one-third of law students are first in their family to graduate from college, underscoring the importance socio-economic backgrounds play in determining who gets on the law school track.

“The dearth of racial and socioeconomic diversity we see in legal education today reflects this statistic and makes it evident that pathways to law school and legal practice remain constrained for many racial, ethnic and economically disadvantaged groups,” said Aaron Taylor, the institute’s executive director.

AccessLex’s director also indicated that law schools need to develop plan to increase diversity in a world without affirmative action:

“Our first effort is to set the stage because looming ahead sometime in the next five years is that affirmative action may be coming to an end,” Taylor said. “So we are trying to emphasize evidence-based and practical information to law schools to help them find what works to diversify.”

Among the suggestions for law schools were opening up the admissions process to allow submissions on how an applicant will contribute “varied and nuanced perspective in the classroom”; holding admissions information sessions at undergraduate institutions that serve diverse populations; having fee waivers for low income applicants and increasing scholarship money.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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