With the recent barrage of media articles lambasting legal education and asserting that a law degree may no longer be the good investment it once was, many prospective students who may have been considering the study of law may now be asking themselves if law school is a good investment. The prospect of attending law school may be even more disquieting for African-Americans since, according to a recent Pew study, the typical black household has around $5,700 in assets whereas the typical white household has around $113,000. It is understandable that those with fewer assets may view law school as a risky investment.
As only 4 percent of lawyers in the United States are black, while nearly 13 percent of the U.S. population is black, African-Americans are already underrepresented in the legal profession. The recent contraction in the number of applicants to law school is likely to yield even fewer black law students this year, which ultimately means that the number of African-American lawyers is at risk of shrinking to less than 4 percent of total lawyers. With this potential decline on the horizon, it is important for law schools to be mindful of diversity when awarding student financial aid, and it is equally important for prospective law students to understand the market for legal education.
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