Law School Admissions
The Waning of Racial Preferences at American Law Schools, 2021-2025
Document Type
Issue/Research Brief/Blog
Publication Date
1-2026
Keywords
student demographics, law school diversity, enrolled student demographics, race and ethnicity
Abstract
Up until now, no one has had much idea of just how, or whether, colleges, universities, and professional schools were complying with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision prohibiting them from using racial preferences in student admissions. Using an innovative new data source, we present estimates of the extent of racial preferences at American law schools over the five admissions cycles from 2020-21 through 2024-25. As a rough generalization, the size of Black preferences used by schools has fallen by about half, but this varies significantly across schools in ways we analyze. Hispanic preferences have fallen by a comparable or arguably greater amount. We also find a good deal of evidence that the diminished scale of law school racial preferences has, somewhat counterintuitively, been a boon for Black and Hispanic students. Both groups have applied to law schools in substantially increased numbers over the past two admissions cycles, and overall Black and Hispanic enrollments have increased in absolute numbers. The modest declines in Black enrollment at the more elite law schools, and the small overall decline in the share of 1L seats occupied by Blacks, are counterbalanced by a large decline in the “credential gap” between entering Black students and their classmates, which, we predict, is likely already improving their relative school performance and their prospects for passing the bar and enjoying long-term success in the legal profession.
