White Doors, Black Footsteps: Leveraging White Privilege to Benefit Law Students of Color

Law students of color typically avoid seeking the mentorship of white law professors, largely white males, finding female faculty and faculty of color more approachable and willing to serve as mentors. Yet, according to recent ABA statistics, white people make up eighty-eight percent of the legal profession, with sixty-four percent being male. In addition, relevant scholarship comments that one of the primary privileges of whiteness is having greater access to power and resources than people of color do. It follows then, as recent legal scholarship suggests, that law students of color who fail to develop a cultural competence may be at a professional disadvantage if they are ill-prepared to work with diverse clients and colleagues. In other words, the success of law students of color, as well as their access to resources in the legal profession, strongly correlates with an acclimation toward positive interracial relationships. This Article draws upon interdisciplinary research, which suggests a white person\u27s heightened White Privilege Awareness (WPA), paired with the belief that their influence can enact positive change, reduces racial inequality against people of color. Specifically, this Article maintains that WPA among white law professors, who mentor students of color and then leverage their white privilege to open professional doors for these students, will reduce implicit bias and may ultimately increase the retention of diverse attorneys. While the best methods to diversify the legal profession have appeared elusive, it is actually equal opportunity and empowerment of attorneys of color that eludes us. Diversity then feels like a buzzword, not a tangible priority. Thus, this call to action for white professors is not rhetoric, but a unique opportunity for the white professor to diversify the legal profession