Law School Enrollment by Race & Ethnicity (2025)

A detailed look at racial and ethnic diversity in U.S. law schools in 2025

Law school enrollment among students of color increased for the eighth year in a row in 2025, according to the most recent data collected by the American Bar Association (ABA). 

More specifically, the number of minority law students increased by 1,852, and the percentage of minority law students rose by 0.13 percentage points.

This 2025 data offers a crucial opportunity to examine the racial and ethnic composition of law schools amid a major shift in the admissions landscape. In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that law schools may no longer consider an applicant’s race and ethnicity during the admissions process—a decision that could significantly affect diversity figures in the years ahead.  

Shortly after that decision, the ABA proposed a change to its law school accreditation standards that would have removed explicit references to "race and ethnicity." After receiving pushback from legal educators who warned that the revision could hinder efforts to recruit a diverse student body, the ABA withdrew the proposal.

With this context in mind, let’s take a close look at the racial and ethnic composition of law schools in 2025, highlighting the top 10 law schools by minority enrollment and examining the continued underrepresentation of certain minority groups relative to their share of the general population.

Race and ethnicity categories

The ABA requires each accredited law school to report enrollment data annually by completing a Standard 509 Disclosure. The Standard 509 Disclosure allows law schools to report the race and ethnicity of their students using seven categories defined by the ABA:

Notably, the ABA eliminated the "U.S. Nonresidents" category in 2024. Schools are now instructed to classify these students under one of the remaining categories.

Minority representation in law schools

The total number of minorities enrolled in law school in the United States increased for the eighth year in a row in 2025, and the percentage of minorities enrolled in law school increased for the sixth year in a row.

Year	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Total minorities	34,909	35,082	36,077	37,688	38,576	39,288	41,892	43,744
Total law students	111,581	112,877	114,549	117,283	116,724	117,532	115,400	120,045
Percentage of minority students	31.28%	31.07%	31.49%	32.11%	33.04%	33.43%	36.30%	36.43%

Note: Students classified as “unknown” are excluded from percentage calculations. “Unknown” reflects missing race/ethnicity data, not a racial group, and including it in the denominator would introduce bias.

Here is a closer look at the enrollment data for each of the seven racial and ethnic groups identified by the ABA over the last seven years. As evident in the table, growth in law school enrollment has been driven unevenly across racial and ethnic groups. Hispanic and Asian enrollment has increased steadily, reaching new highs in 2025, while the number of students identifying as two or more races has also trended upward.

By contrast, Black enrollment has remained largely flat over the period, and American Indian enrollment has continued to decline. These trends have unfolded alongside a broader rise in total law school enrollment, particularly in 2025.

Year	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Black	9,045	8,819	8,869	9,036	9,079	9,132	8,965	9,046
American Indian	627	598	546	544	515	513	500	447
Hispanic	14,285	14,334	14,841	15,479	16,005	15,893	16,590	17,344
Two or more	3,891	4,164	4,345	4,608	4,631	4,981	4,861	5,430
Asian	6,872	7,019	7,330	7,825	8,152	8,656	10,855	11,334
Native Hawaiian	189	148	146	176	194	113	121	143
White	68,344	69,816	71,061	72,294	70,879	69,580	67,452	69,030
Total law students	111,581	112,877	114,549	117,283	116,724	117,532	115,400	120,045

Below is a closer look at how minority representation in law schools changed from 2024 to 2025.

The racial and ethnic composition of law students in ABA-accredited law schools in 2025 comes close to reflecting the racial and ethnic demographics of the U.S. population as a whole. The infographic below shows the total percentage breakdown of races and ethnicities in the U.S., according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, and compares it to the total percentage breakdown of races and ethnicities in all ABA-accredited law schools.

As the infographic shows, the most significant disparity in representation between the general population and law students is among students identifying as Black (more than six percentage points), followed closely by students identifying as Hispanic (approximately 5.5 percentage points).

Another notable trend is the overrepresentation of Asian students in law schools. Asian students account for 9.44 percent of law school enrollment, compared to 6.7 percent of the overall U.S. population. Finally, students identifying as Native Hawaiian and American Indian remain severely underrepresented.

Law school rankings based on ethnic-racial minority enrollment

The ABA Council for Diversity in the Educational Pipeline and the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) have made efforts to increase the enrollment of traditionally underrepresented groups and people of color in colleges and law schools across the country.

In addition, many law schools have taken steps intended to increase the enrollment of minorities, particularly Black students, in competitive law programs.

For example, in 2019, Syracuse University College of Law sought to double Black student enrollment in five years by entering into "3+3 admissions" agreements with three historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in Georgia. The 3+3 program allows students to finish a bachelor's degree and a law degree in 6 years rather than 7. 

Since announcing the program in 2019, the number of Black law students enrolled at Syracuse University College of Law has gone from 49 to 48 (down from 58 in 2024), underscoring the challenge of enrolling Black students and keeping them enrolled. 

Here is a look at the top 10 law schools with the highest percentage of students identifying with each race and ethnicity recognized by the ABA.

Finally, here's a look at where students from historically underrepresented communities are not attending law school.

Bottom 10 law schools for historically underrepresented groups (2025)
Black		American Indian
Ohio Northern University	0.00%	University of Akron	0.00%
University of Utah	0.32%	University of Alabama	0.00%
Brigham Young University	0.57%	American University	0.00%
University of Arizona	0.89%	Baylor University	0.00%
University of Montana	1.07%	Boston College	0.00%
University of San Diego	1.10%	Boston University	0.00%
University of Colorado	1.28%	Brooklyn University	0.00%
University of Oregon	1.46%	University of California-San Francisco	0.00%
Lewis & Clark Law School	1.54%	Capital University School of Law	0.00%
Willamette University	1.64%	Catholic University of America	0.00%

The United States Supreme Court decision on affirmative action and its impact on minority enrollment

On June 29, 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the admissions policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina—which considered an applicant’s race as part of a holistic review—violated the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution. The decision effectively barred colleges and universities nationwide from using race-based affirmative action in admissions.

Affirmative action policies have long been credited with increasing the representation of Black, Hispanic, and other historically underrepresented students in higher education, including law schools. In states such as Michigan and California, minority enrollment at flagship law schools dropped sharply after statewide bans on affirmative action in public university admissions took effect, offering a preview of the potential long-term impact of race-neutral admissions regimes.

In response to the nationwide ban, law schools have increasingly turned to race-neutral strategies aimed at maintaining diverse student bodies. These include placing greater emphasis on socioeconomic background, life experience, personal statements, and demonstrated adversity, as well as expanding pipeline programs, strengthening partnerships with community organizations, and reevaluating outreach and recruitment efforts.

Early national enrollment data suggests that the effects of the Supreme Court’s ruling may not be immediate or uniform across all groups. While Hispanic enrollment has continued to grow in recent years, Black enrollment has remained largely flat, raising questions about how different communities may be affected over time.

Enjuris will continue to monitor the racial and ethnic composition of law schools in the years ahead to assess how this landmark Supreme Court decision reshapes access to legal education.

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Data source: American Bar Association, ABA Required Disclosures (Standard 509 Reports). Any mistakes in data reported to the ABA are the responsibility of the reporting school. Enjuris assumes no responsibility for inaccuracies or for changes in such information that may occur after publication. The figures here are as reported on December 16, 2025. Schools may update their data at any time. Please see the ABA website for updated figures.