Law School Minority Enrollees Hold Steady After SCOTUS Decision

Law school minority enrollments were little changed in the first full year after the US Supreme Court struck down race considerations in college admissions.

First-year Asian enrollees increased the most, by 2%, in 2024 from 2023, the American Bar Association found. The number of Black students fell the most, though only by slightly more than 0.13%, the ABA report released Monday found.

It’s encouraging there were no dramatic decreases in underrepresented racial demographics, said Yusuf Zakir, Davis Wright Tremaine’s chief diversity officer, in an interview. “I don’t think you can look at this particular year’s data and make any kind of conclusions about the longer-term impacts,” he said.

The Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision prompted worries that law school classes would become less diverse as schools tailored admission procedures to meet the new standard set down by the majority of justices. The decision also emboldened conservative groups to bring lawsuits against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The legal fights have forced Big Law firms including Morrison Foerster and organizations such as the State Bar of Wisconsin to change their definitions of diversity and make alterations to their pipeline programs that are geared to boost the ranks of underrepresented groups across the profession.

Universities are likely still understanding how to maintain their diversity priorities in their admission processes while still complying with the law, said Robin Nunn, a former co-chair of a DEI committee at the ABA. She said she would like to see more parity between Black students and the general Black population in the US.

Nikia Gray, executive director of the National Association of Law Placement, said she is cautiously optimistic after seeing the data, but the landscape warrants a closer look. Zakir said the ultimate impact of the Supreme Court decision won’t be seen for another few enrollment cycles.

Black students accounted for nearly 8% of first-year enrollees in 2024, according to the ABA data collected from accredited law schools. Black people make up nearly 14% of the US population, according to the US Census Bureau.

A bright sport highlighted in the report, Nunn said, was that women accounted for 56% of first-year law students compared with 42% for men. Women have also been increasing their representation in junior law firm ranks.

Hispanic representation among first-year law students grew by .03%, according the ABA. American Indian/Alaskan Native enrollees fell by .01%, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students rose by .05%.

White students saw a 1.06% decrease in first-year law school representation last year. Overall first-year enrollments rose by 4.76%, the ABA found.