PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON DIVERSITY IN THE PROFESSION

Welcome!

The American Bar Association's Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity in the Profession offers programs and services to improve diversity in the "pipeline" to the legal profession. Our charge is to increase the number of people of color on the track to becoming lawyers. This work starts with grade school and consummates with bar passage. One of our most recent initiatives is the Pipeline Diversity Conference, held Nov. 3-5, 2005.

As a special committee of the ABA Board of Governors, the Advisory Council on Diversity works with key association leadership to spearhead pipeline diversity issues, such as law school admissions, bar examination passage, and paucity of minority males in law school. To affect a comprehensive approach to pipeline issues, the Advisory Council also represents the ABA in vital external collaborations with the Law School Admission Council, Council on Legal Education Opportunity, national minority bar associations, state and local bar associations, major educational organizations, pre-law advisors and other pertinent groups.

Our work--the goals and projects of the Advisory Council on Diversity--is pivotal to the future of diversity in the legal profession. America's general population is about 75% white, but the legal profession is nearly 90% white, the 2000 census reported. Yet, minorities represent only about 20% of law school enrollment, and that percentage is dropping, according to the most recent Miles to Go report from ABA's Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity.

To even begin to bring the proportion of minorities in the legal profession on par with that in the general population, we must diligently work to encourage minority students to consider law as a career-and then help them prepare for law school and bar passage.

By your visit to this site, you have shown your interest in increasing diversity in the legal profession. We welcome your active involvement in our quest to have a legal profession that mirrors the racial and ethnic make-up of America. Please contact us to find out how you help with this essential initiative.