How to Help Students from Disadvantaged Backgrounds Succeed in Law School

Over the past 50 years, law schools have seen an amazing increase in the diversity of their students. Minorities, women, and the foreign born now make up a significant percentage of those attending law school. However, law school education has changed little in reaction to the new kind of students it must educate. Law schools continue to use the casebook/Socratic method with some modifications at the edges for legal writing and clinics.

While law schools have added minority offices, remedial classes, bar review courses, and academic support personnel, these efforts have not helped to the extent hoped.