Strategically Diverse? Panel Analyses of Enrollments at U.S. Law Schools (Poster 12)

• In Event: Friday Poster Session 3:05 pm

Abstract

We analyzed American Bar Association data to examine the ways that law schools may be strategic about racial and gender diversity in enrollment management. For each intersectional group (e.g., Black women, White men), law schools balance higher enrollment in one year with lower enrollment of incoming students from that same group in the subsequent year. In some instances, higher enrollment in one group (e.g., Hispanic women) also leads to higher enrollment among incoming students with the same race and different gender (e.g., Hispanic men). We also find that these balancing patterns sometimes restrict the enrollment of minoritized students, especially pertaining to Black women, most strongly at law schools with higher median LSAT scores.

Authors

• Nicholas A. Bowman, University of Iowa

• Frank Fernandez, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Solomon Fenton-Miller, University of Iowa

• Nicholas R. Stroup, Ohio University