Date of Degree
2025
Degree Name
Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
Department
Department of Counseling and Higher Education (CAHE)
Director
Kortegast, Carrie
Committee Members
Nyunt, Gudrun; Wesener-Michael, Kelly
Keywords
law school, community college, diversity, pathways, pipelines
Abstract
Building Diversity Pathways from Community College to Law School: A Descriptive Case Study
Although American law schools have devoted significant resources to recruiting students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, their success has been limited. Neither student bodies nor the legal profession reflects the diversity of the population of the United States. Educational pathways have been proposed as a partial solution for this homogeneity, with law schools experimenting with “diversity pathways” to the legal profession.
There are more than 250 diversity-focused pathway programs, exceeding the number of accredited law schools in the nation. But research on the success of diversity pathways to graduate and professional schools is sparse. Entirely absent from the academic literature is any discussion of the potential diversity gains law schools could reap if they recruited students from community colleges. Less than one percent of all law-school pathway projects focus on two-year colleges, even though community colleges are where students from underrepresented races disproportionately begin their higher-education journey.
The purpose of this descriptive case study is to understand the pathway from community college to law school by focusing on law students who attended a regional public law school. The study adapts a model of college choice to understand how law students who started at community colleges found their way to law school as a result of assistance they received from their community colleges—or more to the point, despite the lack of assistance they received. The study identifies the building blocks for a successful pathway program from community college to law school, with an eye toward increasing law-student diversity.
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses and dissertations are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors, unless otherwise indicated.
Recommended Citation
Falkoff, Marc D., "Building Diversity Pathways from Community College to Law School: A Descriptive Case Study" (2025). Dissertations of Practice. 70.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-disspractice/70
