Following up on Tuesday's Post, New York Times: Black Student Enrollment At Harvard Law Drops By More Than Half:  Reuters, Fewer Black and Hispanic Law Students at Elite Schools Portends ‘Cascade Effect’:

National law student diversity held steady this year, but the number of Black and Hispanic first-year students enrolled at the nation’s most prestigious law schools declined 8% and 9% — likely the start of a “cascade effect” in which students of color end up at less-selective institutions following affirmative action bans, experts said.

A decline in the already small number of Black and Hispanic students at elite law schools is troubling news for diverse students who want jobs at top law firms and as judicial clerks, they said. Hiring for those positions relies heavily on top law schools.

“The data is concerning to me,” said National Association for Law Placement Executive Director Nikia Gray, noting that student diversity at top law schools will likely decline further as the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ban on the consideration of race in admissions shrinks the pool of minority undergraduates coming out of elite colleges. “It’s the start of a downward trend here in terms of the diversity of our profession.”

The American Bar Association this week released detailed law school enrollment data for the first class admitted after the 2023 Supreme Court decision. Those figures show that nationwide, Black students continue to make up nearly 8% of all first-year law students while Hispanic students remain at just over 14% of the national first-year class. Asian students increased nearly 2 percentage points to 9.76% compared with 2023.

Derek Muller (Notre Dame; Google Scholar), Latest ABA Data Shows a Continuing Decrease of Black Men Enrolled in Law Schools:

One fairly significant and underreported story for that bigger picture of legal education is the wide, and now widening, gender gap among Black law students. … As the gender gap has widened more generally in legal education, it has widened particularly acutely for Black men.

ABA Journal, Law School Diversity Persists After Affirmative Action Ban, New ABA Report Finds:

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against race-conscious affirmative action policies did little to impact the makeup of 2024’s first year law students, according to the 2024 Standard 509 Information Report data overview from the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

• Law.com, T14 Sees Black, Hispanic Law Student Representation Decline Following End of Affirmative Action
• The Recorder, Black, Hispanic Law Student Enrollment Falls at Top 14 Following End of Affirmative Action, but Mostly Improved at California's Top Schools

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