Bar lowered way too far for minorities at law school

Indianapolis Star ^ | 12-27-02 | Robert Heidt

[livius]

I worked for a large, first-ranked law firm in NYC for a number of years. We recruited black students very, very heavily, although only from the "best" schools. Virtually none of the men could pass the bar exam on the first try. Finally, after one guy had gone through five tries, we had to institute a three-strikes-yer-out policy. We paid for Bar BRI courses (which most of them started but didn't finish), writing courses (which most of them didn't even take), and everything imaginable to get these guys through. PLus they had terrible work habits, objected to every assignment as being beneath them (first year assignments for anybody are essentially just the stuff that paralegals find too boring to do), and couldn't get along with the other attorneys.

The odd thing was that the black women we had did just fine - in fact, they had not really required a boost of any sort, because if you looked at their grades, their high school activities and background, they could have competed with anyone, using any standard.

The other odd thing is that most of our black male summer associates and first-years were not from poor households. In some cases, their own parents were attorneys (and remember, these parents would have grown up and even gone to law school BEFORE affirmative action).

As for Hispanics (of whom we had very, very few), in many cases they didn't pass the bar exam the first time, but they almost always passed on the second go. Most of them were not native speakers of English, and also came from families where they were the first person in their family to attend college or even graduate from high school.

In other words, affirmative action created a strange mentality among black male recipients in particular. But I never did figure out why. Any suggested solutions to this mystery are welcome.

[Timocrat]

What is the failure rate of the AA students vs. the students who had to get in on their merits?

Unfortunately affirmative action does not stop at the admissions office. A prominent attorney in Chicago of my acquaintance, an adjunct Prof at Northwestern U, resigned as a teacher because he was pressured into passing minorities who were not up to snuff. I guess it's only when you get to a completely merit based exam like the bar exam that all that stops.

Comparing admission rates with rates of passing the bar would be a really interesting exercise, thus combining law school drop out rates with bar failure rates.

One bright spot in all this is that by admitting unqualified candidates to law schools you effectively reduce the number of lawyers who eventually qualify to leech on the rest of society.

[CatoRenasci]

I spent time practicing in more than one top tier NYC firm, and my experiences were quite similar: black men were (with two exceptions out of 40-50 I knew who were post-affirmative action - there was one exceptional black partner I knew who as a '50s Harvard graduate and very competent) dumb as stones and marginally competent or worse, black women (with one exception who was dumber than a stone) were competent or better. Hispanics were very rare, and did not fit any stereotypes.

Interestingly, the two exceptionally competent black men both came from very poor backgrounds in the rural South and had had to work like navvies to get into college, through college and through law school. Most of the incompetent black men went to very top law schools, very top colleges, had parents who were college graduates. The black women were from varied backgrounds, the one real clinker had two parents who were college graduates.

[Marauder]

You're absolutely right. He had a job to do, but it's about his ethics. A lawyer's job is to ensure that the defendant's rights are not violated in the process of a trial. In this case, he knew his client was guilty because they were negotiating a plea bargain when the little girl's body was found, yet he tried every trick - aboveboard and otherwise - to "get his client off" as opposed to safeguarding his rights.
Getting the defendant off at all costs regardless of his guilt or innocence doesn't in my view hit the "job" or "ethics" nails exactly on the head.

[RayBob]

My first year class at my law school was 120 students. We had 26 black students. It was evident on the first night than many of them had no business being there. Of the 26, only three survived the semester and only one graduated. The one that graduated deserved to be there and graduated high in the class.

When you have men and women in a graduate degree program who can not speak clearly, you know there is a problem. I'm not referring to local accents, but rather obscenely bad grammer, over-use of the vernacular and the always endearing "you know..." before every thought, connected by the always popular "aahhh".

Just for the record, we had white students there who also did not belong. Most were political hacks who got in through their connections, but some were just way out of their league.

[Catie]

Despite having a 3.8+ G.P.A. as an undergrad, I was wait-listed to get into UMD Law. When I found out that incoming Black students had been given a special class over the summer to get them ready for the rigors of law school, I thought, where's my class, I need help too. Then, when I would see the stats for minorities who couldn't pass the Bar exam, I thought, what's the point of letting these students in, with lesser grades, if ultimately they won't be able to pass the Bar? It all seemed like a big rip off to the Black students.

[brownie]

I did not follow this case closely, so cannot comment specifically on this attorney's conduct.

However, do not forget, whether or not a person is guilt - even if his or her defense attorney knows the person is guilty - it is the government's job to prove the person is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant's attorney's job is too try to poke holes in the government's case (i.e., establish reasonable doubt) by questioning witnesses' bias, competancy, etc., and putting on any evidence that tends to show the defendant is not guilty.

A lot of people think that doing this is slimy, but it ensures that the government is not able to convict people on flimsy evidence and trumped up charges. I agree that defense attorneys can go overboard doing this, but the real problem is liberal judges and stupid/uninformed/biased juries, who believe things like O.J. was set up, even with the overwhelming evidence against him. You may want to blame it all on Johnny Cochraine, but the fault lies with the incompetent prosecutors and the idiotic jury.

- brownie

[Catie]

Professor Heidt can be contacted, with words of encouragement, at heidt@indiana.edu.

[Pearls Before Swine]

The sad truth is that rational people can apply this to any professional (e.g. Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer) who is assumed to have benefited from race preferences in education and hiring. Without AA, we might have fewer dark-skinned professionals, but at least we would know that they met the same qualifications as everyone else.

Indeed. A little bit of AA, in the sense that race was used as the bonus factor when people are otherwise equally qualified, might actually be societally beneficial. However, when racial preference goes from a marginal factor to a major entitlement trumping all else, the quality of the resulting professional is heavily adulterated.

The net result, discrimination against the minority professional, is then justified by the user of their services, because on average (not always, of course) they are inferior as a result of the flawed preferential admission process.

A lay person has a hard time getting a good read on the competence of a professional such as a lawyer or a surgeon. He relies in part on the reputation they get from training at a prestigious institution. AA degrades that reputation. Consequently, a rational consumer of professional services will compensate by undoing the damage done by AA. That is, the discriminating consumer (used in the non-racial sense), is forced to racially discriminate, even if he wouldn't otherwise be inclined to.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Well, with low graduation/high dropout-flunkout rates, followed by low bar-passing percentages, the system does have some tools to protect itself and consumers.

Low bar-passing percentages doesn't help. Many marginal lawyers squeak through on the third or fourth try. They don't brag about how many times it took them to pass!

[TontoKowalski]

Heck, I felt that suspicion as a woman, because it was well-known that my law school gave an extra boost to female applicants. Until first semester grades came out, my male classmates assumed that I and my female classmates had benefited from affirmative action. Who could blame them?

IMO, this is the WORST aspect of these types of programs...that fully qualified, deserving people are viewed with suspicion.

I sat on a review panel that reviewed applications and interviewed applicants for an important position. The panel recommended a black woman, and she was hired. The other applicants (among others) started a whispering campaign insinuating that the woman was a quota hire.

In reality, neither race nor gender nor ethnicity nor age entered into the analysis. The most qualified, deserving applicant got the job. That applicant happened to be a black woman. End of story...I wish.

This woman has turned and burned and worked her butt off, and some folks still don't get it. She earned her position.

[antaresequity]

It seems as if Affirmative Action is an admission of failure at the core level of education. Instead of working to make sure minorities are capable, the advocates seem content to overlook their failings...

The end result is that unqualified minorities are admitted, more qualified individuals are excluded. On top of that, it would seem that the curriculi would also have to be dumbed down for everyone.

Why can't minority advocates go after the root of the problem: poor social values, broken families, lack of respect for one another that seems rampant in the minority communities.

Unless and until minorities can achieve at the same level as whites, then we all lose. They are every bit as capable as whites are...to bad they can't see that.

Pretty sad commentary on the state of our society.

[Myrddin]

The odd thing was that the black women we had did just fine - in fact, they had not really required a boost of any sort, because if you looked at their grades, their high school activities and background, they could have competed with anyone, using any standard.

The "phone" company hired lots of black women. Most were intelligent, hard working people. It also gave the company a double checkmark on the women and minorities hiring objectives. One of my engineering aides was a very bright black woman with an MBA. There was never any question in my mind that her accomplishments were strictly based on merit.

[Henrietta]

Hmmm. Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one....

[jackbill]

Note to self: be very circumspect in hiring minority lawyers who graduated from IU Bloomington.

And from any other "flagship" law school. And doctors as well.

Sorry, but I want to be sure.

[BluH2o]

One of the stupidest, most loud-mouthed, racist black women in my law school class had the gall to insist that white women were the major beneficiaries of affirmative action.

Her name wouldn't be Shiela Jackson?

[Lizavetta]

Minority lawyers who make it on their merits are nevertheless tarred by the suspicion that they may have been admitted with less than adequate qualifications.

Exactly. Look what Affirmative Action is doing to the image of the black professional; they may be even LESS likely to be hired simply because everyone will assume they got there by preferential treatment rather than hard work. Yet another 'helping hand' by the liberals that keeps the black population down.

[mombonn]

I'm sick and tired of affirmative action whining. My Dad didn't want me to go to college. I got a scholarship, and my Mom went to work to help me through.

I became a stockbroker in 1977 at a time when women were just breaking into that field. Nobody gave me a break because I was a white female.

I worked hard, took a bunch of grief, and survived.

Life isn't fair, but it is rewarding if you roll up your sleeves and work, not whine hard.

[Mamzelle]

re: dropping out of law school...

This is a rational thing to do if you do not make the top ten percent and/or Law Review. Those ten percent are all the law school cares about, anyway; the other ninety percent only exist to hold them up. When the recruiters come, they'll only look at Law Review. If you're in the ninety, quit.

[Lizavetta]

Question to all: When will the Bar Exam be dumbed down, and when will minorities get extra points for being a minority? Any speculations?