Demystifying the Pipeline to Legal Education
Across the United States, legal education is enjoying unprecedented levels of enrollment. In 2010, there were 582,500 students enrolled in all American Bar Association accredited law schools. The American Bar Association (ABA) has reported that this year, there are 626,200 law students in the U.S., a 7.5% increase from just one year earlier. However, this sharp increase in law school enrollment has not translated into enhanced diversity in legal education. According to the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), while law schools enrolled 40,500 first-year students in 2011, just 17,000 of them identified as ethnic minorities. Critical to the long-term success of the legal field is the recruitment and retention of new minority students.
The legal education pipeline, which refers not just to law school admission, but all academic steps leading up to and beyond that, is influenced by a number of factors. A similar model is used in other STEM fields like health care and engineering, and has been utilized in education reform work at the undergraduate and professional levels. "Pipeline" implies a linear system of movement, but in reality, students may pass through a number of stages, back and forth throughout their academic careers. The stages of the law school pipeline start years before students are actually admitted into law school.
Pre-law education: The prospect of applying to law school or pursuing a career in the legal field should be introduced to students long before they finish high school. Mentoring and internship opportunities can expose students to the legal field and help them navigate the complicated admissions process . Many undergraduate institutions, including those with pre-law programs, offer students resources and courses intended to prepare them for law school so that they are more competitive when they apply. Next, students must sit for standardized tests, namely the LSAT, and finally, navigate the law school admissions process.
Law school education: Another critical stage in the pipeline, law school, is a full three years for most students. There are, however, 2-year programs available, and some students return for another degree, graduating with an LLM. In the second year of law school, students may choose to participate in additional leadership programs, and many internships and externships are available for upperclassmen, particularly those who will enter the workforce after graduation. Law journals and other student organizations allow students to hone their soft skills through various projects including research and writing. And lastly, students take the day of the bar exam in order to be licensed by their state’s bar association.
While the American legal education pipeline seems relatively straightforward, there are a number of potential barriers for students that may lead to underrepresentation of minority students. Lack of access to elite high schools, LSAT test preparation, or financial resources can hamper students’ application process. Additional barriers exist once students are on the path to law school, and may include money, mental health, and social isolation.
The LL.M. Road Awaits: The National Jurist has noted a "troubling lack of diversity" among foreign students entering U.S. law schools. The university’s goal, and the goal of many institutions across the U.S., is to create a strong pipeline for international and domestic students.
Access to Legal Education: The Current Landscape
The barriers to access to legal education are significant and require meaningful solutions and systemic changes to the educational system and its approach to access.
An array of factors contribute to the problem. Cost is certainly a major obstacle for many prospective law students; in the 2015-16 academic year at U.S. News-ranked law schools, tuition alone ranged from about $30,000 to $50,000 per year and not every school allows students to defer payments until they complete their degrees. In addition, the cost of taking the LSAT, LSAT preparation courses, and applications to law schools can each amount to hundreds of dollars—a fortune for someone who might have limited financial resources and no safety net. Working students often find it difficult to have the time or funds to sit for the LSAT multiple times in an effort to try to improve their scores, which not only affects applicants’ chances for being awarded scholarships, but also ultimately who gets to become a member of the legal profession.
More than half of applicants to law school come from families at or below the national median income, which means that nontraditional students—people who opt to pursue a legal education later in life and already have experience in the field—face challenges balancing their work with school. Even for students who are able to successfully enter the legal profession, where they practice is another barrier to access. Many public defenders and prosecutors work for low salaries and often struggle to make loan repayments.
Even if students meet financial qualifications, the lack of funding and scholarships for them can be a barrier. There are only about 25 schools that offer substantial financial aid packages based on need alone, and many institutions only provide support when a student has maximized federal loans, even though recent data show that more than half of law students have educational debt larger than the IRS’s student loan cap of $52,500 for loans taken out for graduate school. In addition, research shows that pressure of debt can lead to a decline in bar passage rates for low-income and minority students.
Compounding the problems are insufficient institutional resources that do not meet the needs of an increasingly diverse applicant pool, a lack of targeted support programming, and unwelcoming environments that can stigmatize those who need help and stigmatize students who endeavor to enter the profession later in life.
Barriers to access create disparities in the profession. A lack of diversity is another barrier to access and is linked to a host of related issues in the legal field. These disparities are also reflected in the lack of diversity among judges, as people of color make up 31 percent of the U.S. population, but only 19.6 percent of all state and federal judges.
Supporting the Next Generation of Legal Professionals through Programs and Initiatives
As we continue to discuss including and representing historically underrepresentive groups, we find a multitude of innovative programs and initiatives aimed at breaking down the historical and systemic barriers to pursuing legal careers from each of these demographic groups. These programs have been seminal to increasing diversity in the legal profession and expanding our legal landscape. We have briefly summarized some of these programs below in their respective categories, and also provided a chart at the end of this section noting the various programs available to meet the professional needs of each demographic group. The list of categories and corresponding programs is by no means exhaustive but provides a few notable examples of the larger efforts to improve accessibility to our legal education system as a whole.
Scholarship/Financial Aid Programs
Diversity Fellowship Programs
Apprenticeship Opportunities
Internship Opportunities
Mentorship Programs
Law Student Organizations/Fellowships
Law School Initiatives
Pre-Law Organizations
Pre-Law Day
Career Days/Nights at Law Firms or Other Institutions
Re-entry, Transition, and Barrister Programs
Law School Preparatory Programs
High School Programs
Elementary School Programs
Book Club Initiatives
Peer Mentorship
ABA Resources and Updates
Pipeline Programs and Opportunities
Volunteer Opportunities
Scholarship Matching Services
Law School Access >> Practicing Law >>> Bridging the Gap: Continuing the Pipeline
Leveraging Technology to Expand the Reach of Legal Education
As legal education continues to evolve, it is important to assess the role of technology in enhancing access to legal education. Online learning platforms and virtual mentorships have become vital components of modern legal education, empowering institutions to break down traditional barriers to entry.
Online Learning Platforms
The emergence of online education platforms has been a game-changer for those who may not have the opportunity to attend traditional law schools or take part in conventional legal training programs. Distance learning has offered students from around the world better accessibility to world-class legal education. For students with disabilities and geographical constraints, online learning has provided an invaluable alternative to standard law school attendance.
For example, in India, the availability of undergraduate and postgraduate law degrees from institutions like the National Law School of India University through online programs make it more feasible for students from rural areas to pursue a career in law. Students with disabilities who may have previously encountered difficulties in attending traditional institutions can access legal education through a computer or mobile device, making the pursuit of legal qualifications more practical for all.
Virtual Mentorships
Online learning has also allowed for the establishment of virtual mentorship programs, which can enhance the learning experience for students. Mentorship is a vital component of legal education that helps students gain knowledge of how the law works in the real world. However, finding a suitable mentor in their legal area of interest is no easy task for students. It is often difficult to find a mentor away from their client base or practice area, particularly if the student is attending law school in a different city, state, or country . In such circumstances, having access to a global network of legal professionals can be particularly beneficial.
By removing the constraints imposed by geographical limitations, technological advancements and the rise of virtual mentorship opportunities allow students to connect with mentors and gain access to invaluable real world knowledge. Electronic communications, facilitated by personalized email addresses and other software, provide easy cross border access to suitable legal mentors.
Career Development Resources
Legal education is not simply centered on teaching the practical application of the law, but also encompasses aspects of career development. In addition to mentorship, students also need career development resources to prepare for their work life after law school.
Institutions that are leveraging technology to enhance access to legal education are also ensuring that their students have the tools they need to thrive in the legal profession. This includes providing career development information and resources online, digitally storing journals or course materials, and easing electronic processing of applications. In addition, the material taught is designed to align with international developments in the law. When the material being taught is relevant on a global scale and understandable to scholars and practitioners in other parts of the world, students can better apply what they have learned in practice.
Technology, through digital databases and online platforms, can help students pursue research in areas of law that had previously been left vacant and unattended. Whether it is cross border research or developing a new area of law, technology can help students access data that was previously unavailable, thus broadening their skill set and mental horizons. Students equipped with such skills and opened up to such opportunities are in a better position to start their career in the legal profession.
Advocacy and Policy Shifts to Increase Access to Legal Education
The barriers to legal education are not insurmountable; however, they do require attention from legislators, educational institutions, the practice of law, and those who seek to learn. It is no coincidence that law schools continue to target their outreach programs toward diverse and historically underrepresented populations, some state bar examiners have adopted multiple test accommodation and alternative exam options, and bar associations are creating diversity and inclusion initiatives to focus on all aspects of the profession. Policy reform and advocacy efforts to enhance access to the profession have not been dormant. This has especially been the case since the U.S. Department of Education restricted the use of access barriers such as reliance on the LSAT or other standardized tests, prior criminal convictions, and irrelevant questions during the admissions process of postsecondary educational institutions. See, e.g., The Secret Admissions Standards at Yale Law School, Sept. 30, 2019, HUFFPOST; ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools Rev. (2019-20) Standard 503. From increased receptivity by law schools to the concerns of young lawyers regarding systemic barriers to employment and advancement and the ingenious solutions both legislative and otherwise that they have developed and pursued with the support and collaboration of their state bar associations, to the increasing varieties of test accommodations and technologies that allow candidates to access relevant study materials and law school libraries no matter their location or physical condition, there has been a marked upward trend in the number and diversity of bar exam takers and first year law students and law school graduates and a small but growing number of jurisdictions that have adopted the Uniform Bar Exam and the HBCU-UBMLO Bar Prep Partnership. See, e.g., Tasha Sutphin, List of US jurisdictions that have adopted the Uniform Bar Exam, ABA Business Law Section Website, Aug. 7, 2019; The Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) Foundation Website; Cleo Bar Passage Pilot, Addressing Bar Passage Disparities (January 2019); Rules Governing the Admission of Attorneys to the Bar of the District of Columbia (D.C. FindLaw). Such innovations represent a significant decrease of barriers to entry and increase in opportunities for legal education and the profession by historically underrepresented groups.
Fostering a Diverse and Informed Future for the Legal Field
The long-term impact of these efforts extends into the future of the legal profession itself, with the hope that it will increase the likelihood of a pipeline of applicants that represents the diversity of the communities in which we serve. The ripple effect of improving access to legal education is bound to reach into every corner of the profession, from access to legal services to bench composition , as law schools are often the starting point for each lawyer’s career. The goal must be to diversify every entry point to the profession so that our communities are comprehensively represented in the legal profession.
It is still too early to see how recent efforts will pay off in terms of who applies to law school and how many, if any, of those students will gain admission and graduate. What we can’t ignore, however, is that as more lawyers come to believe that diversity is a priority, it stands to reason that they will be more inclined to partner with other organizations to promote diversity at every level.