The number of minorities enrolled in law schools is miniscule compared to the number of white students, but students and outside sources prospect opportunities for minorities are growing.
The role of minorities in the legal profession was discussed during an event Monday, which attracted about 30 students, faculty and staff.
Robert J. Grey Jr., the immediate past president of the American Bar Association was the keynote speaker for the event, hosted by the Black Law Students Association, College Student Division and Pre-Law Society. According to Grey, minorities are not yet adequately represented in the legal profession.
“The issue is and continues to be how we are doing on retention and how we are doing on promotion and how sustainable is our effort at integrating minority and women lawyers in key positions,” Grey said.
As a partner in the Richmond office of Hunton & Williams law firm, Grey said the legal profession is a competitive environment for students and law schools are highly selective because they can afford to be.
However, in the legal profession there is room for growth, and the opportunities in companies and law firms for minorities are expanding because of the need for different experiences, Grey said.
“Companies and law firms recognize they need different people,” Grey said. “They’re going to diversify to compete.”
According to the Law School Admission Council’s Web site, for the fall 2008 academic year, 69.9 percent of students enrolled in 191 of 200 American Bar Association approved law schools were white.
American-Indian or Alaskan-Native enrollment was 0.8 percent, Asian or Pacific Islander enrollment was 8.3 percent, African-American Enrollment was 7.3 percent, Mexican-American enrollment was 1.4 percent, Puerto Rican enrollment was 1.7 percent, and other Hispanic-American enrollment was 5.1 percent.
Students who classified as “other” for their ethnicity made up 4.7 percent and classifications of “no ethnic ID” were 0.7 percent.
President of BLSA, Jennifer Dilworth, said despite the figures, which show minority representation in the legal field lagging behind especially in comparison to other professions, BLSA has seen a significant amount of growth in interest and participation from minority students.
Dilworth said BLSA collaborates with the Pre-Law Society, Afrikana, the VCU chapter of the NAACP and the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.
“Our resources are available to the entire community. Diversity in the legal profession is as important as life itself,” Dilworth said. “If minorities are not adequately represented in the legal profession, the profession itself will not just be negatively impacted, but the development and representation of our democracy will be impeded.”
While student involvement is on the rise, Dilworth said, the opportunities in the legal profession are continuing to open up with the implementation of scholarship programs, according to Grey.
Organizations are being formed, including the Diversity Committee in the LSAC, which spent $5 million on projects designed to increase the number of minority men and women who attend law schools, according to the LSAC Web site.
The LSAC Web site states the ABA adopted a law school standard for specific commitments to provide opportunities for minority groups. The Association of American Law Schools requires that member schools provide opportunities in legal education for minorities and has programs to increase the number of minority faculty.
Debrielle Williams, who has yet to declare a major, said the discussion led by Grey fully informed her about the law profession and inspired her to seek more information.
“We are under-represented in the law profession as a minority in whole, especially women,” Williams said. “I think we do need to be more encouraged. The law profession can seem discouraging. Diversity is really needed in the law profession in order to represent people equally and we can understand where minorities are coming from instead of the average caucasian male.”