ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that Black people who aspire to be lawyers endure marginalized existences, which span the law school admission process through the matriculation process. The manner in which the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) drives the vetting of law school applications ensures that Black applicants face steep disadvantages in gaining admission. In 2015–16, it took about 1,786 Black applicants to yield 1,000 offers of admission, compared to only 1,176 among White applicants and 1,315 overall. These trends are explained in large part by racial and ethnic disparities in average LSAT scores. The average score for Black test-takers is 142 – eleven points lower than the average for White and Asian American test-takers of 153. Therefore, for large proportions of Black law school applicants, their marginalization in the admissions process ends in outright exclusion. Unfortunately, an offer of admission does not necessarily shield Black applicants from marginalization; the process often takes on a different form: adverse incorporation, which is inclusion on disadvantageous terms. The law school admission process tends to funnel Black students into schools with the least favorable outcomes. LSAT-driven merit scholarship policies tend to foster inequitable awarding of tuition discounts, thereby contributing to higher student loan debt among Black law graduates. Both trends increase the risks of the law school investment among people often in the least favorable positions to take on those risks. If legal education is to serve as a robust pipeline into the profession among people from underrepresented backgrounds, law schools must adopt methods of selecting and supporting students that are rooted in equity, fairness, and legitimacy.