LSAT, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, AND MINORITY ADMISSIONS, THE

St. John's Law Review, Winter 2006 by Baynes, Leonard M

The legal profession might also consider programs designed to expand the pool of qualified applicants of color. For example The Ronald H. Brown Center instituted the Summer Prep Program, which provides qualified college sophomores exposure to the study of law and judicial internships, and the juniors receive a free LSAT prep course.77

Despite the presence and legality of affirmative action programs and the large increases in the number of students applying to law schools, the number of African Americans attending law school has decreased since 1994. Many schools have African American enrollments that hover only around 6% of the class.78 In fact, the percentage of African American, Latino/a, and American Indian students that were in contention at Michigan Law School ranged from 13 to 20% of the class.79 The extreme irony here is that the legal profession, which opened up American society to equal opportunity and diversity, has lower percentages of African Americans than comparable professions, .e.g., doctors, accountants, and . . . even university professors.80 Some might argue, like Justice Sandra Day O'Connor did in City of Richmond u. J.A. Croson Co.,81 that we shouldn't necessarily expect minorities to be proportionally represented "lockstep," in any endeavor, with their share of the population. Maybe people of color just don't want to be lawyers? But wait! Isn't this the profession that gave us Thurgood Marshall? Isn't this the profession in which African American civil rights lawyers litigated to reverse Jim Crow segregation? Justice O'Connor's analysis can't possibly be right here.

Whatever the reasons for this decrease in African American and Latino/a admissions, as educators, we have a responsibility to make sure that the legal profession is more representative. As the United States becomes more diverse, we need lawyers who are bilingual and bicultural. It is anticipated that by 2050 African Americans, Latinos/as, Asian Americans, and American Indians will comprise 50% of the population nationwide. Four states now have a majority minority population-Hawaii, California, New Mexico, and Texas. And in several other states, like New York, minorities now comprise 40% of the population. In this more diverse setting, lawyers will need to be savvier in talking to racially diverse juries. They will need to be able to advise clients with limited English ability and culturally different perspectives.

Given this over-reliance on the LSAT, how is someone supposed to pull themselves up by their bootstraps? A young black man who grew up in the projects, goes to the local public schools, and works his way through public universities might not have access to the information that he needs to fill out the application forms or the resources to take a prep course. Even though he has done well in college and might be the first in his family to graduate from a college, these factors are no less valuable to admissions committees. However, these attributes demonstrate this individual's drive and ambition. What do we tell that young man who has played by the rules and done his best?