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Proportional Disparities: African Americans and Mexican Americans Severely Underrepresented in Law School Proportional Disparity of Law School Matriculation by Ethnicity (2009) 77.73% Mexican American 8.53% Hispanic Non Mex Am -2.76% 4.69% Caucasian African American Native American -40.50% Asian/Pacific Islander -87.50% Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Law School Admission Council 2
Comparison of U.S. Population and Law School Matriculants U.S. Population by Ethnicity (2009) Law School Matriculants (2009) 64.93% 70.47% 12.10% 7.20% 8.14% 5.43% 10.32% 0.64% 4.58% 2.00% 5.28% 1.29% 6.95% 0.67% Mexican American Hispanic Non Mex Am Caucasian African American Native American Asian/Pacific Islander Other Mexican American Hispanic Non Mex Am Caucasian African American Native American Asian/Pacific Islander Other Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Law School Admission Council 3
Comparison of U.S. Population and First Time LSAT Takers (2008-09) U.S. Population by Ethnicity (2009) First Time LSAT Takers (2008-09) 64.93% 12.10% 67.07% 9.58% 12.65% 21.95% 10.32% 1.39% Mexican American Caucasian African American Other Mexican American Caucasian African American Other Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Law School Admission Council 4
37.14 Million African American U.S. Pop. (2009) Avg. LSAT 142.25 (2003-04 to 2008-09) 13,205 LSATs (est 9,092 indvls) 9,880 Applicants 3,520 Matriculants 4,180 Accepted (42.3%) Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Law School Admission Council 5
199.33 Million Caucasian U.S. Pop. (2009) Avg. LSAT 152.67 (2003-04 to 2008-09) 73,248 LSATs (est 63,649 indvls) 55,110 Applicants 34,460 Matriculants 40,890 Accepted (74.2%) Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Law School Admission Council 6
31.69 Million Mexican American U.S. Pop. (2009) Avg. LSAT 147.63 (2003-04 to 2008-09) 1,853 LSATs (est. 1323 indvls) 1,190 Applicants 630 Matriculants 740 Accepted (62.2%) Source: U.S. Census Bureau; Law School Admission Council 7
Global Issues As of last year, the US Dept of Ed and LSAC stopped disaggregating data for Mexican Americans, including them in the overall Hispanic group, further masking the problem LSAT as a factor in admissions Because the USNWR weighs the LSAT so heavily in the rankings and doesn t take diversity into consideration, certain diversity groups are at a disadvantage As of last year, the USNWR began to include LSATS for part time and evening programs in the rankings computation, further disadvantaging diverse students 8
Solutions?? Aside from remedying the overall problem of poorer K-12 education for diverse groups, and giving less weight to the LSAT and/or demanding the inclusion of diversity in the rankings, what can be done? How can we get more underrepresented students to take the LSAT, score well, then get into law school, graduate, and pass the bar? On a positive note, LSPI is making strides in El Paso, a county that is over 80% Hispanic 9
UTEP s Law School Preparation Institute High School Programming Efforts Aimed at reaching out, exposing students to law as a career option, role modeling, skill building, helping students prepare now to posture themselves to become successful law school applicants, hosting competitions to build self confidence in law-related work, helping foster a belief in themselves that they can do it Camp/pre law education develop substantive and practical skills Competitions with judges and attorneys from El Paso Collaboration with State Bar and Texas Young Lawyers 10
LSPI College Level Programming 8-week summer Institute: Intensive courses to build logic, legal reasoning, analytical, writing, and critical thinking skills as well as prepare for the LSAT (& extended tutoring) Help in marketing students for successful law school application and support in the application process Children s Rights Law course where students serve as Court Appointed Special Advocates Juvenile Justice Center clinical opportunity for students Internships with judges, government offices and other organizations 1-week boot camp immediately before starting law school Networking and connecting with mentors Post college: clerkship opportunities for law students 11
Measures of Success Of over 300 LSPI graduates who have gone on to law school, almost 2/3 matriculated at top tier schools and about 1/3 at top 15 schools Approx. 93% of LSPI graduates who applied to law school gained admission, compared to 62.2% of Mex Ams, 74.2% of Caucasians and 42.3% of Af Ams in 2009 In 2010, Mexican American LSPI students scored an average of 5 points higher than the average score of all Mexican Americans over 2003-04 through 2008-09 We are seeing follow through on pipeline from our high school programming to law school 12
Threats/Weaknesses Funding LSPI is funded through a special item in state budget for UTEP & an LSAC grant for high school programming Trouble effectively reaching two important populations that have people interested in law school community and graduate students Continuation of high school program; further outreach to younger students in the community Raising awareness of the program disparities in admission between LSPI and non-lspi students Perception of the legal market 13
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