Discrimination within law schools. How can I help?
Discrimination within our world is unfortunately super common, however something that is not talked about often is how discrimination happens in specific studies such as law school, nursing school and other major studies. Specifically talking about discrimination in law school admissions.
“Sometimes people assume that once you attain a certain role, race and gender don’t apply to you anymore, but that’s just not true,” Camille Nelson says. “Racism and sexism are deployed differently in professional settings. [They’re] exercised with more sophistication and nuance. People of color—and women of color in particular—understand things like presumed incompetence.”
Lawyers often deal with discrimination cases which are heavily talked about but something that is not talked about enough is how soon-to-be lawyers deal with discrimination in  law school, but more specifically getting into law school, admissions. Institutional racism occurs where an institution adopts a policy, practice, or procedure that appears neutral on its face but has a disproportionately negative impact on a racial or ethnic minority group. In the case of law schools, the discriminatory practice is the misuse of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) in the admission process. Specifically, it's estimated that at least 90% of law schools have admission practices that presumptively deny applicants based on how they fall on a grid formulated around LSAT and Undergraduate Grade Point Average (UGPA).
Institutional racism is very common. Institutional racism occurs where an institution adopts a policy, practice, or procedure that appears neutral on its face but has a disproportionately negative impact on a racial or ethnic minority group.
“Institutional discrimination refers to prejudicial practices and policies within institutions that result in the systematic denial of resources and opportunities to members of subordinate groups. This form of discrimination is maintained by the laws, organizational guidelines, or traditions of an institution” Says Jeanine Cunningham.
  “The findings in the American Bar Association’s “Profile of the Legal Profession’s 2020 Report” revealed that diversity in the legal profession has been static. The number of female lawyers in the U.S. has only increased 6%, from 31% to 37% between 2010 and 2020.
In 2010, 89% of all lawyers were non-Hispanic whites. Ten years later, the percentage only decreased by 3%. In 2020, as in 2010, only 5% of all lawyers were African American despite comprising 13.4% of the U.S. population.
The report also found four out of five judges in 2020 were white and the percentage of African American judges actually dropped from 10.8% in 2016 to 9.8% in 2020.
These facts demonstrate the persistence of inequity and systemic racism in the legal profession and the need for the legal profession to recognize and take action to eliminate racial disparities. Judge Dunston, you wrote the article “Justice Isn’t Always Blind,” which was published in the North Carolina State Bar Journal in the Fall of 2020.”
While institutional discrimination is a serious conflict, in Law school there are lots of strategies we can use in order to improve equality within the law.
For example, we can encourage POC to speak up when they feel racially attacked. Its okay to say a legal decision is wrong, and for racism to be the reason it was wrong. Speaking up is crucial when feeling attacked!
More ways we are able to decrease the amount of institutional discrimination students go through: LISTEN “Listen. Listen to your peers who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) when they tell you they are being silenced. Listen when they describe a microaggression. Even if you don’t understand why it was racist, realize that’s the privilege of your position: you haven’t had to feel its impact.” This statement written by Mihal Ansik states exactly that speaking up and listening go hand-in-hand. If you don’t speak up, no one can hear you and try to help! Another way we can help eliminate the amount of discrimination that happens in institutions, is by educating yourself and others! “Anti-racism is a constant learning process that will continue throughout our lifetimes. Keep educating yourself.” The more we learn and educate ourselves, the better we can improve and help reduce the amount of racism students face.
. Discrimination within our world is unfortunately something that may never be fully resolved. The examples listed above are very strong examples of how we can eliminate racism not only in institutions but also world wide however if we practice techniques such as speaking up, and standing up for others who may be unable to, we may be able to  eliminate how much discrimination happens within law schools and other institutions.

 
Works Cited
Ansik, Mihal. “How to Practice Anti-Racism in Law School.” Law School Toolbox®, 22 Jan. 2022, lawschooltoolbox.com/how-to-practice-anti-racism-in-law-school/. 
Randall, Vernellia. “Discrimination against Blacks, Hispanics, Native and Other People of Color in Law School Admissions.” Race, Racism and the Law, racism.org/articles/basic-needs/education/268-education-legal-education/the-whitest-law-schools/law-school-admission-discrimination/2903-discrimination-against-blacks.