This week's scholarship spotlight:
DeShun Harris (Memphis), Do Black Lawyers Matter to the Legal Profession?: Applying an Antiracism Paradigm to Eliminate Barriers to Licensure for Future Black Lawyers, 31 U. Fla. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 59 (2020).
From the abstract:
The legal profession has an anemic representation of Black lawyers. In 2020, the population of Black lawyers was 5% of the legal profession compared to White lawyers who made up 86% of the profession. Drastic action is needed to change this disparity. The time for changing that disparity has never been clearer than now. The Black Lives Matter movement took hold of the nation in 2020 after the death of George Floyd and the protests that followed. It now may be the largest movement in U.S. history. The movement has engaged the public by raising awareness about issues impacting Black Americans and by charging institutions with making change. Many have argued that the movement was aided by the disruption caused by COVID-19, which confined people to their homes giving them time to consider race issues and ways they could engage in changing those issues.5 Given the limited representation of Black lawyers in the profession, what can the legal profession do in this movement to eliminate barriers to licensure for future Black lawyers?
This Essay will explore how antiracism can provide a path for the legal profession to eliminate barriers to licensure for aspiring Black lawyers. Specifically, this Essay will examine the current licensing policies that promote racial inequities by applying an antiracism paradigm. But the antiracist paradigm requires more than identifying the problem, it requires dismantling policies and replacing them with policies that eradicate barriers. Thus, this Essay will evaluate solutions the legal profession can undertake to eliminate the barriers to licensure for aspiring Black lawyers.
(Louis Schulze, FIU Law)
