Underrepresentation of African American males in the legal profession: Breakages in the pipelines

Abstract

The number of African American males entering the legal profession continues to remain stagnate, with only marginal increases during the past 15 years. Even though the intentional exclusion of African Americans from state law schools was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court more than 50 years ago, other “neutral” institutional policies and requirements have stifled the growth and development of African American males attending law school and advancing in the legal profession. Even with a number of legal victories, African American males have lost the battle to end institutional practices, which continue to exclude them from admission to law school.