Law schools in Florida have struggled for years to attract more minorities in the legal profession. Despite recruitment drives and other efforts to boost enrollment, minority enrollment numbers at some Florida colleges have remained stagnant or have fallen off. The national Law School Admission Council recently reported the University of Florida's enrollment of Black law students enrollment at the University of Florida, the state’s largest public law school, dropped from the fall 2006 to fall 2010 by 10 percent. Similarly, Hispanic enrollment fell by more than one-third at Florida A&M University’s law school from 2008 and 2010. University of Florida officials believe that budgetary constraints are partly responsible for the decline in enrollment. Data reported by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and Vault.com in the fall of 2010, substantiated fears that the effects of the recession would undo diversity gains achieved in the legal profession over the past decades. Is the decline in minority enrollment being experienced by Florida laws schools a trickledown effect of the economy or are there other factors effecting law school enrollment?
