Yet, the problem of increasing the number of minorities enrolled in law schools has proved to be a politically and culturally charged issue for which there are no easy solutions. Traditional “affirmative action” style admissions policies have been ruled unconstitutional, forcing law schools to consider alternative strategies to increase minority enrollment.

At a conference in November 2005, the American Bar Association (ABA)—together with the nation’s law schools—initiated an effort to encourage minority high school and undergraduate college students to consider enrolling in law school. The conference, titled “Embracing the Opportunities for Increasing Diversity into the Legal Profession: Collaborating to Expand the Pipeline,” identified as a primary objective increasing the flow of qualified and interested students into the “pipeline”, i.e. high schools and undergraduate programs, which in turn feed students into law schools, which in turn feed graduates into law firms.

Achieving this objective is, of course, easier said than done. The disproportionately low numbers of ethnic and cultural minority students in law schools, cannot be increased simply by opening the law schools’ doors wider. The flow of students through the “pipeline” is impeded by barriers built up over centuries of slavery, segregation, prejudice, discrimination, distrust, and ignorance. Civil rights laws, Supreme Court rulings, and good intentions have not yet succeeded in dismantling all of these barriers. Those that remain in the way are the most difficult, complex, and stubborn. Attitudes about race, culture, and gender must be changed. Attitudes about education and the law must be changed. Schools must be improved. Measure-ments, definitions, and predictors of success must be reexamined. Easier said than done.

The effort to fill the “pipeline” with students motivated to make a career of practicing law has been joined by law schools, law firms, and local bar associations in the Kansas City area. In fact, Kansas City area lawyers and law school administrators were working to fulfill this objective before the “pipeline” catch phrase was coined.

In December 2003, twenty-seven Kansas City area law firms signed a Commitment to Diversity statement at the annual meeting of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Assoc-iation. The signatories to this statement pledged their best efforts to take a leadership role and make positive and determined efforts to achieve “meaningful, measurable and lasting progress toward inclusion of diverse legal talent.”

One aspect of this commitment has been a coordinated campaign between area law firms, law schools, and public secondary schools in the region to raise awareness and attract talented students into the study of law.

Bill Rich, interim dean of Washburn University’s law school, believes that, on the whole, Kansas City’s law firms are making good progress. “There’s more work to be done, to be sure. But there’s a sincere good faith effort and it’s to be applauded. And the work we’re all doing to build relationships with high schools and even individual students is part of that effort to extend our influence and our resources deeper into the educational system and the community.”

Rich says that Washburn is actively working in Topeka-area high schools to establish relationships with students, teachers, administrators, and counselors to identify and mentor young people who demonstrate an interest in the

law or who possess certain skills and abilities that may make them good candidates for law school.

“We try to light a spark with students who might make good lawyers,” he says. “We mentor the debate teams, we help facilitate mock trials in civics classes.

We bring kids onto campus during the summer to show them around and get them acquainted with the school. But it takes constant work. If you’re standing still—if you think you’re doing enough—you’re probably falling behind.”

Tina Harris, an attorney with Shook Hardy & Bacon, agrees. “Lawyers tend to want to put a positive spin on things. We like telling our clients that things will work out. By nature lawyers are optimistic. But we can’t allow ourselves to be caught up in happy talk on the issue of diversity. The stakes are too high. And if we think we’ve done enough, then that’s the time to do more.”

Harris is Shook Hardy & Bacon’s Director of Strategic Diversity Initi-atives. In that capacity she has helped lead the collaborative effort of Kansas City’s law firms to reach out to area law schools and public schools. Here her optimism is tempered by the daunting nature of the challenge.

“In spite of the heightened awareness of the need to diversify the profession, increasing the flow of stu-dents into the ‘pipeline’ can’t be achi- eved by law firms and law schools alone, no matter how hard we work,” says Harris. “The effort really needs to start down at the kindergarten level. And that means it’s really a community issue that’s way beyond the ability of law firms or law schools to influence. Because the problem isn’t that there aren’t eno-ugh African-American or Hispanic kids choosing to go to law school. It’s that there aren’t enough African-American or Hispanic kids graduating from high school. Period. They can’t choose law school or medical school or engineering or teaching or anything else if they don’t graduate from high school—if educational and cultural and political issues aren’t addressed at a grass roots level in every community and state.”

Harris and Rich are both quick to point out, however, that efforts to encourage minority students to consi-der the study and practice of law cannot wait while society deals with deeply entrenched issues of race, gender, sexuality, religion, and culture.

“We need to continue to form relationships between law firms and law schools, and between law schools and high schools,” says Dean Rich. “But more importantly between individual practicing lawyers and young people from diverse backgrounds. That’s what makes it real, when those relationships are personal.”

“We need to be providing scholarships, tutoring, LSAT preparatory clas- ses, and internships,” Harris says. “And where programs to fill the ‘pipeline’ don’t exist, we need to create them. The practice of law is fundamentally a pursuit of justice. And that’s what this effort is really all about. Pursuing diversity is about the pursuit of justice.”