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Law Quadrangle (formerly Law Quad Notes)

Abstract

It is an undisputed fact that less than 2 per cent of the nation's estimated 200,000 lawyers are black. To paraphrase the words of one commentator:
"There is no need here to define exactly what constitutes 'shortage' or to dwell upon the question whether the number of black lawyers should be exactly proportionate to black population. The number of black lawyers is so small that there is a shortage by definition, and obviously we are years from facing the more refined question of whether, by definition, such a shortage has ceased to exist.

However, in the decade since 1960, particularly during the last five years, the legal profession has become sensitized to the social problems stemming from the dire shortage of black legal practitioners. It is noteworthy that the 4000 plus blacks studying law in 1972 outnumber the estimated 3800 black attorneys presently practicing at the bar. Even more importantly, a substantial number of the 4000 students are studying at the so-called "distinguished" institutions of legal education. Thus, the premier demand of the sixties upon our profession, i.e. greater numbers of black lawyers, is in the process of being met and should no longer be the point for critical debate.

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