Racial disparities in law school applicants remain, AccessLex Institute says
Racial disparities among law school applicants persist, according to the AccessLex Institute’s Legal Education Data Deck. (Image from Shutterstock)
Racial disparities among law school applicants persist, according to the AccessLex Institute’s Legal Education Data Deck.
For instance, 79% of white applicants for the 2023-24 academic year received at least one admission offer, compared with 47% of Black applicants, the study released Aug. 13 found. Students of color made up 35% of first-year enrollment during 2022-23 school year but were more likely to drop out, accounting for 46% of withdrawals after their first year, according to the report. That’s an increase from a year earlier, when students of color comprised 43% of first-year withdrawals.
The first class since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year did away with race-based admission will enter law school this fall.
While the report’s findings are not surprising, “they will be a good benchmark for us to think about when we do see that data come out next year,” says Tiffane Cochran, AccessLex VP of research, who is based in Washington, D.C. “We’re already not doing what we need to do if we’re talking about parity with the U.S. population.”
There are hopeful signs, however, she adds.
Last year, 31.1% of law degrees were awarded to minorities, “higher than we’ve ever seen,” Cochran says. “That doesn’t mean that we’re doing well, right? There’s still a lot of work to be done.”
When it comes to passing the bar, gaps persist. White students’ first-time bar passage was 85% for 2023, but it was 71% for Hispanics and 58% for Black graduates.
But when looking at ultimate bar passage, the differences are less pronounced. More than 70% of all 2021 graduates passed the bar exam within two years, and with a 15-percentage-point difference in ultimate bar passage between White and Black graduates, compared with a 24-percentage-point difference in first-time passage.
Finances remain a concern. Nearly half of enrolled law school students are carrying undergraduate debt, and those who do owe an average of more than $28,000. Although the share of schools awarding conditional scholarships decreased from 61% to 37% from 2011 to 2022, the proportion of all entering law students who receive conditional scholarships remained consistent at around 25%.
The Legal Education Data Deck, updated at least twice per year, pulls information from a variety of federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Labor; and organizations including the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the Law School Admission Council, the National Conference of Bar Examiners and the National Association for Law Placement.
The full study can be found on the AccessLex Institute website.
