Law school deans weigh in on affirmative action ruling at Diversity in Law event

A landmark 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down affirmative action in college admissions and removed race as a direct consideration for admission.

In light of the high court’s ruling, how are the state’s law schools adapting to the changing admissions landscape and working to maintain diversity in their student bodies?

Indiana University Robert McKinney School of Law Dean Karen Bravo, Dean Christiana Ochoa of IU Maurer School of Law and Dean G.Marcus Cole of Notre Dame Law School weighed in on that question during a panel discussion Wednesday at Indiana Lawyer’s 2024 Diversity in Law event, held at the Indiana Roof ballroom.

Under questioning from moderator Jimmie McMillian, Penske Entertainment Corp’s chief diversity officer and senior corporate counsel, the three law school deans said recruiting and retaining students from diverse backgrounds has always required a lot of effort.

“The challenges of recruiting diverse students is one the preceded the Harvard case,” Bravo noted.

In its June 2023 decision, the high court’s conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively. The vote was 6-3 in the North Carolina case and 6-2 in the Harvard case.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote universities can still consider how an applicant’s life was shaped by their race, “so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability.”

IU Maurer, IU McKinney and the Notre Dame Law School all made adjustments to their law school applications after the Supreme Court decision.

Cole called it a “critical moment” in the country’s history and stressed the importance of having a legal profession that’s representative of a larger, diverse population.

The Notre Dame dean cited American Bar Association numbers showing Black and Latinos are still greatly underrepresented in terms of both groups’ percentages of total attorneys in the United States.

He said the Supreme Court decision had dramatically affected admissions to law schools. “At the end of the day, we must have a legal profession that represents the people of this country,” Cole said.

The leaders of the Hoosier law schools each represent diverse “firsts” of their own,  including Bravo being the first person of color to lead IU McKinney, Cole being the first Black person to lead Notre Dame Law School and Ochoa being the first Latina to lead the IU Maurer School of Law.

The deans shared their personal stories of how they pursued legal careers and ultimately ended up in leadership roles at the state’s three law schools.

Ochoa said she started as a faculty member at Maurer in 2003 and was fortunate to have many professional development opportunities at IU before she accepted the role as the law school’s dean

“My path there was in no ways a straight one,” Ochoa said.

When she entered law school, Ochoa said she had never known an attorney or had the opportunity to interact with one. She said she felt in her mind at the time that she was “out of her depth.”

Cole also said he did not know any attorneys growing up in Pittsburgh.

The area surrounding the housing projects where he grew up did not have any stores where his mother could shop for groceries, so she had to ride the bus elsewhere to go shopping for the family, Cole said.

“I thought the way to change that was to become a business lawyer,” Cole said.

Bravo was born and raised in Jamaica and first joined the faculty of the McKinney School in 2004 as an assistant professor of law.

She said she didn’t know much about Indiana when she came to the university but has grown to love the area.

The McKinney dean said it was important for all people in the world to fulfill the potential they have.

Bravo said IU McKinney has pipeline programs in place, as well as features  like the school’s Professional Development Institute, to not only recruit students but also prepare them at the school for successful law careers.

“Academic success is as important as bar success,” Bravo said.

To maintain a diverse student body, Ochoa said the Maurer school also operates a lot of pipeline programs that focus on undergraduate students.

Ochoa noted the Supreme Court decision also applies to undergraduate admissions.

“It is an absolute moral obligation that we find our way through this decision,” Ochoa said, emphasizing that law schools can’t “get around” the decision as it’s now law.

Ochoa said the legal profession needs to find ways to build different kinds of pipeline programs for students and be active in mentoring them.

Cole said Notre Dame has placed diverse students in federal clerkships at a record rate in recent years.

He added that, for the first time in Notre Dame Law School’s history, 100% of its most recent graduating class had found employment shortly after graduation.

The panel discussion featuring the law school deans was part of the Indiana Lawyer’s Diversity in Law event, which recognizes attorneys and judges who actively work to promote different forms of diversity within the legal profession. This year’s event recognized 26 honorees, including this year’s Diversity Trailblazer, Lacy Johnson.