According to the Orlando Sentinel, Florida law schools are fretting drops in minority enrollment.
Scholars say more minorities need to study law at a time when many are pursuing careers in health sciences and business.
There's a growing demand for minority attorneys, as many members of the public seek lawyers in criminal and civil cases who look like them and can relate to them through cultural backgrounds and life experiences.In addition, law firms want to diversify so they can better compete globally and build trial teams that can make effective cases before racially diverse juries.
I have little doubt that there's a real demand for attorneys with multicultural language skills. But the barrier there is purely communicative, and may actually inhibit access. It's not merely ethnic or racial.
It's really, really stupid to claim that there's a "growing demand" for a racial subset of a profession when the profession as a whole is producing a 40% excess every year without proof of abnormal consumer behavior.
I'll concede that people would prefer to be represented by people who look like him, and I'll also concede that given candidates with equal qualifications, firms in many areas would take a minority for diversity reasons.
But there's scant proof that either (1) minorities bypass legal services that they would purchase if they had a minority to fill their need or (2) minorities pay more for services by someone who looks like them. In other words, my casual observation is that the value of minority representation is greatly overvalued by the media and the academic elites who have no real conception of what actually happens at ground level. It's an ivory tower fantasy; in fact, in some cases, I would suppose minorities would want a white representative in court if they truly feel the court is prejudiced. And nevermind that a 40k-a-year "shit"law lawyer has more in common with most blue-collar minorities than an east coast elitist biglaw washout, but I digress...
The point is that there really isn't a "growing demand" unless a minority could theoretically open up shop and immediately siphon off business merely by being a minority who looks like his clientèle. Given the current legal climate, I just can't see that happening. No unsourced article premised on interviewing unnamed law school administrators about the unspoken wishes of a population can change that.
Sure, in an ideal world, the bar would reflect the population and people could choose among experienced lawyers of all racial and socioeconomic compositions to find the perfect person for them. In reality, we live in a world where experienced, competent attorneys happen to be disproportionately white and male. New entrants, minority or not, have an uphill battle going against that establishment, and consumers know the difference, or find out rather quickly. Minorities may find it easier to nab associate positions at bigger firms, but it's not like corporate clients are going to change firms because someone found a black guy to hire, which means there isn't any more job security for minorities than the white males. Both have to pull their weight. And let's not forget that minorities are coveted by most corporations if they have the right business credentials.
To me, telling minorities to give up business and healthcare to study law is nothing short of irresponsible. Healthcare has signs that it's a durable career of the future. Law will still be around, but it's the weakest and least versatile of the three areas. Any non-white/Asian minority who can score higher than a 160 and get into a top 50 school, I would encourage to go to law school if they wanted to be a lawyer and could find a reasonable tuition price. But no way, no how, should "weaker" parts of the applicant pool be heading to law school on the supposition that there's an untapped market out there that wants a minority face to represent them. For a kid who gets a 150 LSAT, minority or not, law is a bad idea. There's no two ways around it, and fantastical dreams of ivory tower six-figure dorks can't change that.
My opinion on this would change if the article actually bothered to have statistics that minorities were in demand in the labor market. Instead, it does nothing but spout admissions figures at Florida law schools, as if that really matters. Hopefully, no one will read the "growing demand" line and actually take it to mean "growing demand" in the economic sense.
It is easier for law schools to place minority graduates. They do have a better chance of getting a position than a person without minority status. There rates of placement are much higher, but this is only for better students at high end firms who are positioned to benefit from the preference that big firms and government agencies give to minorities. The best way to satisfy this "demand" would be for the top law schools to add seats for minorities, or to simply take more of them. Bottom law schools, that really can't place most of the non-minority class, shouldn't try to justify their existence based on the fact that they do place four or five minority students in positions each year.
ReplyDeleteAs a minority JD who also later got a MD, I can assure you that the underlying premise that there are more minorities in medicine than in law is bull. Minorities are a rarity in medicine, and many of those who are admitted later wash out.
ReplyDeleteAny idiot can get a law degree, and thus there is no problem with minorities getting JDs. If minority enrollment numbers are going down in law, this is probably a good thing, and I hope they have figured out the law school scam.
"If minority enrollment numbers are going down in law, this is probably a good thing, and I hope they have figured out the law school scam."
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more.
Is there a growing need or demand for MORE unemployed lawyers with no connection or money?!?!
ReplyDeleteSure, legal employers are dying to hire more minority lawyers - and there is a growing demand for Lambourghinis among housecats.
Yeah Nando is right about that one. Unless they have parents who have a practice, money or some connection there is no serious demand. Law Schools want minorities so they can say "look at how diverse our classes are". Take it from me they all say wow congratulations but we can't hire you. It's like a Mario game, were sorry but your job is in another company. Do not go to law school kids it is a bad scam.
ReplyDeleteFlorida's history with minority law students/attorneys is long and convoluted. But here is a snippet.
ReplyDeleteIn 2000s, the Florida legislature created two law schools at both FAMU and Nova (historically minority schools). Why? Consumer demand? Nope. It was in a hope to FIX a perceived low minority law student graduation problem. Please understand at that time FLa already have 7 law schools and 60K active bar members. Finding any legal job was a bitch.
I do give credit to one member of the Fla legislature. He had the foresight to propose state funded minority legal scholarships. These scholarships would have cost 1/4 the cost of one law school let alone two new ones. Ok, fast forward ten years. Did these new school solve the problem. No!!
Now, the glut of attorneys is worse. Florida has nine law schools. To add further injury, Florida has two new law schools in the wings. This would bring the count to twelve. Fuck! Twelve law schools.
If I was a betting man I would bet the Florida legislature will add a few more law schools. On top of the twelve. Why? The fact that such actions have never worked in the past has yet to stop them.
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