Page 17 - Delaware Lawyer - Summer 2022

Our role was to support the groups mainly by providing subject matter ex- pertise and data analysis. We helped en- sure that the working groups had the best information at their disposal when considering the bench and bar’s diver- sity challenges and possible solutions.
An area of focus for both work- ing groups was the extent to which aspects of the bar admission process served as disproportionate barriers for people from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds. In es- sence, the groups considered whether specific requirements of admission tended to discourage or prevent peo- ple of color from becoming Delaware lawyers. These were multifaceted con- siderations — ones that encompassed the law school admission process and continued to the point a bar candidate takes the oath of admission.
Delaware has a distinctive bar ad- mission process, with elements not seen in other jurisdictions. Mem- bers of the bar take immense pride in this process. In the working group discussions, a central theme was the importance of preserving the rigor of the process. This was especially true when reforms or new approaches were broached. These discussions prompted me to consider the mean- ing of rigor. What does it mean for something to be rigorous? This article is my attempt at offering a conception of rigor that is goal- focused, tied to the proverbial destination as opposed to the journey. I believe this framing of rigor could help allay concerns that reforms and new approaches invariably amount to a lowering of standards.
The Profession’s Diversity Challenge
Before turning to rigor, it is im- portant to first describe the challenge that makes initiatives like the Delaware Bench and Bar Diversity Project impor- tant and necessary. The process of be- coming a lawyer is arduous and expen- sive. It starts long before a student ever enrolls in law school or even professes an interest in doing so. The education and exposures that children receive ear- ly in life dictate much about their life’s path, including their chances of becom- ing a lawyer.
The United States is a vastly unequal society, with opportunities typically routed through our system of disparate access to resources. Children from priv- ileged backgrounds tend to have the broadest scope of options. And while racial and ethnic classifications are not perfect proxies for resource acquisition, our country’s history dictates unmistak- able relationships between race and re- sources. For example, the typical white family has about 10 times the wealth of
the typical Black family.1 This disparity is the cumulative result of “differences in power and opportunity that can be traced back to this nation’s inception.”2
The realities of inequality manifest in various ways in schools. An endur- ing characteristic of legal education is its dearth of student diversity. People of color comprise 40% of the country,3 but only 33% of law students.4 The two largest underrepresented groups — Black students and Latinx students — comprise 32% of the population and just 21% of law students. Much of this disparity can be tied to disparities in average LSAT scores and their impact on admission rates. Black aspiring law students have the lowest average LSAT score and the lowest law school admis- sion rates.5 These trends play out in the context of resource disparities, with unequal access to high-quality — and costly — test prep being one of many contributing factors.
Inequality continues to manifest af- ter students enroll in law school. On a recent survey of law students, fewer than 30% of respondents reported that they were first-generation bachelor’s degree-holders.6 Given the longstand- ing links between education and access to resources, this relatively low propor- tion illustrates the level of privilege pos- sessed by most law students. But even within these privileged spaces, students of color tend to be least privileged. On the same survey, Latinx students were twice as likely as white students to re- port being first-generation bachelor’s degree-holders. Black students were about 1.5 times as likely.
Resource disparities among law stu- dents manifest in numerous ways, but most prominently in higher student loan debt for students of color com- pared to their peers. On the law student survey, 40% of Black students expected to owe at least $120,000 upon gradua- tion compared to 27% of white students.
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