I am not savvy enough to cull the American Bar Association data myself but a recent news report caught my eye about Harvard Law School’s “significant rise in Black student enrollment for its 2028 J.D. class . . . . The school enrolled 50 Black students, more than double the number from the previous class, which had hit a historic low.” Black students now represent 8.6 per cent of the 2028 class, up from 3.4 per cent the year prior.

There had been a sharp decline in Black enrollment in the Class of 2027, the first class admitted after the Supreme Court ended race-conscious affirmative action.

According to the news report, “Asian student enrollment remained stable, with 126 students in the 2028 J.D. class, compared with 132 and 103 in the previous two cohorts. Hispanic student enrollment stood at 44, a slight increase from 39 in the Class of 2027 but lower than the 63 students in 2026.”

Harvard College recently reported a decline in Black undergraduate enrolment, dropping by 2.5 and 4 percentage points over the last two cycles.

All of this data, of course, is food for thought. As a faculty member and dean, I always found law school admissions patterns to be hard to figure.

More generally, the ABA has reported that diversity at law schools is down this year.