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Towards a Pedagogy of Diversity in Legal Education
No full textThere is resounding consensus that diversity in legal education is a priority. Yet, North American law schools continue to be criticized for failing to reflect the diversity of the society that they are training lawyers to serve. This article is a project of conceptual reorientation against a backdrop of critical scholarship and empirical evidence. Parts I and II examine the past twenty years of diversity promotion in legal education, concluding that, while several advances have been made, especially in increasing numerical representation of diverse groups in law schools, the promise of meaningful diversity remains unfulfilled. Part III suggests that reforms in legal education, though well-intentioned, have continued to focus on the production of a model of professional identity that is out of reach and out of touch for many minority students. In Parts IV and V, the author outlines a program for transforming the norm of lawyering taught in law school. Grounded in a normative framework of access to justice and equality, the author argues that experiential/clinical learning practices offer a useful method to achieve a more engaged pedagogical commitment to diversity in legal education
Still Hazy After All These Years: The Data and Theory Behind \u27Mismatch\u27
No full textIn the context of reviewing the book Mismatch by Sander and Taylor, the authors provide a comprehensive review and synthesis of dozens of social science research studies regarding affirmative action, mismatch, graduation rates and labor market earnings. In addition, the authors look at the recent graduation rates of nearly two hundred thousand black and Latino students at one hundred U.S. research intensive universities (Table 1). The authors conclude that the social science research overall, and particularly the best peer-reviewed studies, do not support the mismatch hypothesis with respect to affirmative action and African American and Latino college graduation rates and earnings (Table 2). The authors find that Sander and Taylor\u27s contrary claims are the result of cherry-picked data
Asian-American Enrollment, 2010-2013
No full textThis source includes data on Asian-American enrollment by class year at ABA-approved law schools for the academic years beginning in 2010 to 2013
Minority Enrollment, 1987-2013
No full textThis source includes data on minority enrollment by class year at ABA-approved law schools for the academic years beginning in 1987 to 2013
How to Help Students from Disadvantaged Backgrounds Succeed in Law School
No full textOver the past 50 years, law schools have seen an amazing increase in the diversity of its students. Minorities, women, and the foreign born now make up a significant percentage of those attending law school. However, law school education has changed little in reaction to the new kind of students it must educate. Law schools continue to use the casebook/Socratic method with some modifications at the edges for legal writing and clinics. While law schools have added minority offices, remedial classes, bar review courses, and academic support personnel, these efforts have not helped to the extent hoped.
Many in legal education view the failure of a significant number of students as inevitable. However, this author believes that students from disadvantaged backgrounds can succeed in law school and become successful lawyers if law schools adopt new methods of instructing such students. In other words, the problem lies not in the lack of innate ability of our students, but how law schools deliver instruction to their students.
First, law schools must change the mindsets of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many students at all levels believe that intelligence is fixed. Such a mindset prevents learning because it creates a defeatist attitude. Law schools need to instill a growth mindset in their students – that with effort and the proper approach any student that is qualified to enter law school can succeed in law school.
Second, law schools should help motivate their students. Many students come to law school lacking the motivation to learn. Third, law schools must teach their students how to be metacognitive thinkers. Metacognition concerns thinking about thinking – controlling one’s cognitive processes. Fourth, law schools must help students from disadvantaged groups become self-regulated learners. Self-regulated learners are engaged learners, and they are fascinated by learning new things. Finally, law schools need to help students develop better study habits
The Aspiring Attorney with ADHD: Bar Accommodations or a Bar to Practice
No full textThis Article is the first in the academic literature to examine how a strict application of the childhood history requirement reduces the likelihood that applicants will receive ADHD accommodations on the bar exam based on race, sex, socioeconomic status, location, and age. Part One provides an introduction to ADHD, explaining the diagnostic framework and its limitations, specifically with regard to childhood diagnosis and adult ADHD. Part Two describes the legal and policy framework applicable to bar examiner agencies, focusing on the Americans with Disabilities Act ( ADA ). The Article sets forth, in Part Three, state bar policies and practices regarding ADHD accommodations. Within that context, Part Four demonstrates how the childhood history requirement exposes state bars to liability under the ADA. Part Five reveals how the childhood history requirement negatively impacts protected classes and, thus, the diversity of the legal profession. Finally, the analysis concludes in Part Six with specific, groundbreaking recommendations to address and mitigate the injustice that bar applicants from underrepresented populations in the profession face
Analyzing Common Themes in Legal Scholarship on Professionalism
No full textThe ABA is going to change the accreditation standards to require more emphasis on fostering each student’s ethical professional formation. This requires a paradigm shift in legal education from a focus on educational inputs like a course on professional responsibility to a focus on clearly articulated learning outcomes relating to each student’s ethical development.
Law schools need help to define assessable learning outcomes for professional formation. This paper provides an analysis of existing scholarship on professionalism that will guide faculties in defining specific learning outcomes for professional formation in the context of existing scholarship in the field. There is substantial consensus among scholars that professionalism’s foundation in an internalized moral core or personal conscience. Several scholars emphasize the critically important point that a student’s understanding of professionalism is developmental meaning a student grows over time toward a fully-internalized understanding of professionalism. This means that legal educators must tailor educational engagements to each student’s stage of development
American Indian and Alaskan Native Enrollment, 2010-2013
No full textThis source includes data on American Indian and Alaskan Native enrollment by class year at ABA-approved law schools for the academic years beginning in 2010 to 2013
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Enrollment, 2010-2013
No full textThis source includes data on Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander enrollment by class year at ABA-approved law schools for the academic years beginning in 2010 to 2013
Black or African-American Enrollment, 2010-2013
No full textThis source includes data on Black or African-American enrollment by class year at ABA-approved law schools for the academic years beginning in 2010 to 2013