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The Critical Need to Diversify the Pipeline into the Practice of Law

By Diane Abraham 

Many in the legal profession continue to proactively pursue diversity as a goal for the profession. But law firms, corporate legal departments, government, and the judiciary cannot recruit attorneys of color who don’t exist.  Diversity efforts will encounter inherent obstacles as long as there remain too few members of color who decide to enter the profession in the first place, particularly without role models and mentors demonstrating a reason and purpose to become part of the legal profession. 

Other professions, such as engineering, included diversity pipeline programs as early as the 1980’s.  They recognized that a more diverse workforce benefits the general population and the clients those professions serve. The legal community, however, has fallen short in implementing an effective professional pipeline that invites and prepares students of color to transverse the arduous route to the bar. Therefore, while our nation’s minority population increases, the comparative percentage of attorneys of color---and potential attorneys of color--- lags far behind.   

Overall, a large portion of the legal community remains disengaged with the future face of the profession.  As the world and the practice of law becomes more global, enormous implications arise for a system of American jurisprudence which fails to be forward-thinking.  Racial and ethnic diversity in the profession will simply not happen without engaging members of diverse backgrounds and race into the pipeline that flows into the noble profession of law.  To fully and equitably pursue justice and defend liberty, the profession must reflect the full face of America. 

The immediate past president of the American Bar Association Dennis Archer puts the need for diversity in our profession into the most basic terms: “Too often, where white people see justice in our legal system, people of color see justice short-changed.  When you recognize that in the United States, it is the ability to petition our courts for fairness that keeps people from seeking justice in the streets, then you understand that diversity in the legal profession is critical for democracy to survive.” (D.C. Summit on Opening the Pipeline, Washington D.C., Oct. 14, 2003).

The Numbers Don’t Lie

While it is largely understood that the U.S. population is 70% white and 30% racial and ethnic minorities, the legal profession fails to mirror the population, the legal profession fails to mirror the population. Nearly 90% of the legal profession is white, with racial and ethnic minorities making up the remaining 10%- 11%. According to U.S. census data, the practicing attorneys of color consist of:

!         3.3% Hispanic

!         3.9% African American/Black-non Hispanic

!         0.2% American Indian or Alaskan Native

!         2.3% Asian

!         1.1% mixed-race 

The racial divide will only become greater, as statistics project that by the year 2050, the U.S. will almost be a “majority-minority” country, and the Latino population will exceed all of the other minority populations combined; a true demographic sea change.^[1] 

Law Schools and Students of Color

By the time individuals have made the decision to apply to law school, it is plain that the law ---in its many fields and permutations--- is their career of choice.  However, startling is the decline in the number of racially and ethnically diverse students applying to, being admitted, and graduating from law schools.  Over the past seven years, minority law school enrollment has been at the lowest since 1985.  In 1999, the total number of minority law students graduating dropped for the first time in 20 years.^[2] 

The disparity is even greater in top public law schools in states that have laws banning affirmative action, such as Texas, Florida and California.  For instance, with the passage of Proposition 209 in California in 1996, the admission of African Americans to the two most prestigious campuses in the public law school system ---Los Angeles and Berkeley--- was 40% lower after that law became effective.^[3]  The news doesn’t get better: at the University of California Berkeley (Boalt Hall) School of Law, the overall student profile for the entering class of 2003 had “over 40% are students of color.”  Boalt’s entering class of 2004, however, saw a significant drop, admitting “30% students of color.” ^[4] 

Overall nationally, only 7.2% of entering law students in 2000 were African-American, while blacks represent over 12% of the general population.  That number dropped in the entering class nationally in 2003 to 6.9%.  The disparity is even greater among Latinos, where only 5.5% are law students, as opposed to over 11.6% of the general U.S. population being non-white Latino.^[5]  In 2004, the only racial population comprising the greatest minority law student group are Asian-Americans, where in most law schools, they dominate the minority student body.  At Western State University in California, 21% of the minority students admitted are Asian-American; at Santa Clara University (CA), the number rises to 28%.  At the University of Hawaii, the greatest percentage of Asian-Americans in the U.S. exists, at 61%. However, in law schools such as the University of Missouri and the University of Maine, the percentages drop to 4% and 3%, respectively.^[6] 

These figures only reflect admission into law schools; statistics on successful completion of law school paint an equally somber picture.  Nationally, the attrition rate for racially and ethnically diverse law students is greater than that of white law students.  After the first year of law school, 12% of Latino law students left school, while16% African-American students left the study of law.  The highest attrition rate was among Native Americans, at 18%, compared to 8% Asian-Americans and 5.5% white students leaving law school.^[7] 

Bar passage rates for racially diverse law students also demonstrate a leak in the diversity pipeline into the practice of law.  Recent figures from the Law School Admission Council indicate that approximately 85% of white students passed the bar exam, while only approximately 6.5% African-Americans passed.^[8]  In California, 54.1% white bar exam takers passed the February 2004 exam, while 18.1% African Americans passed, 22.7% Latinos passed, and 32.2% Asian-Americans passed.^[9]  Clearly it is disturbing that such a comparatively law pass rate exists for potential lawyers of color.  

One of the impediments to plugging the leaking pipeline is the improper use of  standardized tests, such as the LSAT (Law School Admission Test).  The Law School Admission Council, which administers the LSAT, cautions against misuse of the test scores, including:

$     Do not use the LSAT score as a sole criterion for admission.

$     Do not use LSAT scores without an understanding of the limitation of such tests.

$     Do not place excessive significant on score difference.

Nonetheless, many law school admissions personnel continue to place significant weight on applicants’ LSAT scores.  Because the performance gap between white and minority students tends to be larger on the LSAT than the UGPA (Uniform Grade Point Average) ---the other numerical admissions criteria--- heavy reliance on time-pressured law school exams is likely to have the indirect effect of making it more difficult for minority students to be admitted through the regular admissions process.^[10]

Plugging the Leaks in the Diversity Pipeline: Starting Early   

The time to plug a leaky pipeline is before the flood begins in a sea of demographic change.  That time precedes law school; it ideally would begin well before undergraduate college admissions.  At a minimum, however, the legal profession must begin to generate interest in the practice of law as a viable career among racially and ethnically diverse students at the earliest years of college study.   

In 2000, college-age persons (ages 18-24 years) comprised the U.S. population as follows: 8.9% white, 11.7% Latino, 11.2% African-American, 11.6% Native American, and 10.2% Asian-American.^[11]  Of that population, 61.8% of the white high school graduates enrolled in post-secondary education.  Far fewer African-Americans and Latinos enrolled in higher education, at 46.4% and 41.5%, respectively.  The Asian-American population, however, surpassed all groups, with 78.1% enrolling in college.^[12]  

Similarly, of those enrolling in higher education, 27.5% of the white students graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree (required by most law schools before considering admission), compared to only 12.8% of the African Americans and 12.7% of the Latino students.  Surprisingly, while 78.1% Asian-American high school graduates enrolled in post-secondary education, only 31.2% attained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1980.^[13] 

Additionally, most recent data compiled by the American Bar Association confirms that the actual numbers of minority degrees has decreased in the time period from 1990-2002, with the exception of degrees awarded to Asian Americans.  In 1998, the highest number of degrees to African-Americans for that time period was awarded, at 2,943 degrees.  That number of degrees dropped in 2002 to 2,768.  Of Mexican-Americans, the highest number of degrees for that time period was in 1996, at 741; that number fell to 507 in 2002.  Native American students received their highest number of degrees in 1999 at 337; that number fell to 286 in 2002.  However, in 2002, the Asian-American students received the highest number of degrees for their ethnic group, at 2,511 degrees. 

As indicated, the process for recruiting ethnically and racially diverse students into post-secondary educational institutions is an even greater challenge for states legally banning affirmative action in public schools.  The University of California system overall admitted 3,400 fewer students in the fall of 2003, and rerouted 7,600 more would-be first-year students to community colleges.  The lower admission numbers have hit underrepresented minorities the hardest.  The most striking drop was among African-American student applicants, whose admission numbers were down 15% from the 2002 admission year.  In fact, as of late spring 2004, only 98 African-American students had registered for fall reenrollment out of an expected class of 3,821 at University of California at Berkeley.   Data shows that the overall campus-wide drop in African-American students was followed by a 9.2% decrease for Native American students, 3% for Latinos, and 2% for Asian-Americans.^[14] 

As in law school admissions and the resulting impoverished diversity of law students, improper us of standardized test scores, such as the SAT, is another impediment to the college admission process for students of color.  Minority students, often including Asian-Americans, score below white students. 

The Future

As the ABA’s Presidential Advisory Council on Increasing Diversity into the Profession continues to work on its upcoming report, we will highlight initiative that are helping to diversify the pipeline into the legal profession ---- such as the Pipeline Project of the Association of Corporate Counsel of American (www.acca.com/diversit/pipeline/).  A large part of a legal professional’s duty is to emulate dignity and model respect.  By so doing, everyone in the practice of law can mentor and encourage diverse individuals to become a part of the noble legal profession.

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