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Expanding Latino Participation in the Legal Profession: Strategies for Increasing Latino Law School Enrollments

INTRODUCTION Increasing minority representation in the legal profession has concerned the bar since the civil rights movement. Yet the numbers remain appallingly low. (1) In 1999, William G. Paul, the former President of the American Bar Association, noted that while thirty percent of Americans were members of racial or ethnic minorities, a full ninety-two percent of the nation's lawyers were white. (2) He predicted that, if current trends continue, the legal profession's ethnic mix would fall even further behind in the next fifty years. Three years later, the gap has already widened. Minorities now constitute twenty-five percent of the total population, (3) yet they make up only 7.5 percent of entire legal profession. (4) Even several Presidents of the United States have weighed in on the need for diversity. As far back as 1963, President John F. Kennedy summoned the nation's lawyers to combat racism and increase diversity. (5) In 1996, President William J. Clinton created an Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans that "[called] upon the nation to improve education for Hispanic Americans." (6) In 1999, President Clinton called upon the nation's lawyers to help America's poor and minorities share in modern American prosperity and urged the legal profession to take steps to diversify the profession. (7) Latino representation is particularly alarming. Although Latinos constitute 12.5 percent of the American population, and have become the largest minority group in the United States, (8) they represent only 2.2 percent of the nation's lawyers. (9) Moreover, Latino representation is, in fact, decreasing. In 1998, while Latinos comprised 11.7 percent of the total population, they represented 2.49 percent of the nation's lawyers. (10) The number of Latinos enrolled in the first year of law school--the focus of this Essay--has risen steadily since the 1960s, but remains dismal. The number of Latino first-year law students as a proportion of the total first-year population went from 1.1 percent in 1969-70, to roughly three percent during the 1980s. (11) Currently, Latinos make up approximately 5.8 percent of all students in American Bar Association ("ABA") accredited law schools and 8.4 percent of total law school applicants. (12) The benefits of increased participation in the legal profession are undisputed. A lack of lawyers limits the group's ability to advocate for its interests, and otherwise denies that group full political power. (13) Additionally, cultural and linguistic barriers often inhibit Latinos from consulting non-Latino lawyers, limiting access to vital legal services and, to the extent Latino entrepreneurs fail to seek services, limiting the community's economic growth. (14) In addition, a legal career is generally a ticket out of the lower class. (15) As such, a law school education can be a tool for socioeconomic change. (16) An increase in the number of Latino lawyers can have a multiplier effect, enhancing upward mobility for Latinos generally by exposing more Latino children to professional role models. (17) Participation in the legal profession as an attorney is ultimately dependent upon admission to the bar. Before crossing that finish line, future lawyers must overcome a series of hurdles including law school admission, retention, graduation, and bar passage. (18) In addition, true participation in the profession requires gainful employment as an attorney. This Essay explores how Latinos have fared in the law school admissions process--a hurdle that the group has yet to overcome--and evaluates current efforts to bolster Latino enrollment. Part I examines the underlying conditions that contribute to low Latino enrollment in law schools. This Section reveals the primary obstacles to Latino admissions: the limited pool of eligible Latino college graduates and current law school admissions policies that emphasize Law School Admission Test ("LSAT") scores and grade point averages. …