The Legal Beat

‘Black Lawyers Matter,’ And It’s Time For Law Schools And Law Firms To Realize That
Posted on Tuesday October 19, 2021

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It’s impossible for me not to conclude that law schools have long had systems in place that preference and prioritize the employment outcomes of white graduates over Black graduates.

— Jim Leipold, executive director of the National Association for Law Placement, in comments given at the “Black Lawyers Matter” conference, an event co-hosted by University of Houston Law Center, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, and the Law School Admission Council. According to Leipold, Black law school graduates usually have the lowest rate of employment in private sector firms. To make matters worse, the gap between Black and white law school graduates finding jobs that require bar exam passage averaged 18 percentage points over the past six years.

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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