Last week, Justice Goodwin Liu participated in a media briefing for a forthcoming study, “Who’s Going to Law School?  Trends in Law School Enrollment Since the Great Recession.”  (See here.)  The study, which Justice Liu co-authored and is sponsored by the American Bar Foundation, “discuss[es] how the demographic composition of law students has changed since the Great Recession of the late 2000s, with particular attention to Asian Americans, who too often remain an invisible minority in contemporary discourse on diversity.”

During the briefing, one reporter asked whether the increased, sometimes violent, discrimination against Asians and Asian-Americans since the pandemic’s onset might be an incentive for more Asian-Americans to enroll in law school.  Justice Liu’s response, as he reiterated for At The Lectern today, was:

I am very troubled by the apparent escalation of anti-Asian bias and harassment, and in that context, it is not good news that Asian American enrollment in law school is declining.  Lawyers have always had a crucial role in upholding the rule of law and maintaining basic norms against discrimination of all kinds.  We have seen this kind of scapegoating before – during prior periods of economic dislocation or national crisis – and such hostility can lead to serious harms, including violence.  It would make a big difference if there were more Asian American lawyers – including judges, prosecutors, business leaders, and government officials at high levels – available to speak out against crude stereotypes, protect civil rights, and set a tone of civility and mutual respect.  There is concern that the pandemic will further depress law school enrollment, but I would hope that young people across the country, including Asian Americans, see current events as a call to action to pursue law.

Related:

Henrik Nilsson in the Daily Journal:  More minorities enroll in law school, but may not become lawyers, report indicates

Nathan Solis for Courthouse News:  Fewer Asian Americans Going to Law School, Study Finds

Justice Liu co-authors “A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law”

Supreme Court grants another posthumous law license, to a civil rights hero

Hong Yen Chang gets his law license, 125 years late, after Supreme Court acknowledges a “grievous wrong”

[June 8 update:  Vivia Chen on Law.com:  Is Money the Reason Asian Americans Are Rejecting Legal Careers?]