By: Leonard M. Baynes
Abstract by: Marianne Recher
This article introduces the Law Review’s symposium issue
covering the law school’s conference on “The LSAT, U.S. News &
World Report, and Minority Admissions.” The conference brought
together academics, admissions personnel, and other leading
gatekeepers to the legal profession to “examin[e] the impact of the
ranking-frenzied
atmosphere created by U.S. News & World Report on African
American and Latino/a enrollments” at law schools.
The symposium started with the premise that there are still very
few attorneys of color. The participating authors looked to why
this is true, despite affirmative action and despite the Supreme
Court’s ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger that race could be used as a
factor in an individualized determination of law school
applications. The authors argue that law schools rely too heavily
upon Law School Admissions Test (“LSAT”) scores; they call the LSAT
an “imperfect test that has a disparate impact on test takers of
color.” This over-reliance on the LSAT, they argue, constitutes
race discrimination and results in lower admissions for African
Americans.
Despite the imperfect correlation to law school success and the
consequences to African American and Latino/a enrollment, law
schools raise minimum LSAT scores because the LSAT is a major
component of the U.S. News ranking that law schools can themselves
control. The authors criticize this “gaming of the system,” blaming
it, at least in part, for the small number of attorneys of
color.
The symposium authors urge that more needs to be done to
increase the success of students of color. “More” includes moving
away from the over-reliance on the LSAT—an argument echoed by law
school deans at nearly every ABA-accredited law school. The authors
suggests other methods of applicant-analysis on which schools could
rely, including: more comprehensive and holistic review of
applicants, eliminating the LSAT, hiring admissions staff of color,
and legal remedies for students of color who are qualified but-for
their LSAT score. The authors further urge the American Bar
Association to adopt accreditation rules that would penalize law
schools that misuse the LSAT. Finally, the symposium authors
encourage the legal rofession—educators in particular—to do their
part to increase the pool of qualified applicants of color.