According to recent data from the American Bar Association, the number of first-year Black students at Harvard Law has decreased by more than half compared to the previous year’s enrollment.
In 2024, only 19 Black first-year students enrolled at Harvard Law, 6 of whom are men and 13 of whom are women. This is the lowest number of Black first-year students at Harvard Law since 1965, when there were 15 Black law students enrolled in the Ivy League school’s first-year class.
Last year, there were 43 Black first-year law students at Harvard. Currently, 46 Black second-year students and 44 Black third-year students attend Harvard Law. During the 2023-2024 academic year, Harvard awarded law degrees to 52 Black students.
In total, Harvard Law’s 2024 first-year class consists of 563 students, meaning Black students represent just 3.4 percent of the entering class. Conversely, there are 325 White first-year students at Harvard Law, representing a staggering 57.7 percent of their class. Asian first-year students were the second most represented group in Harvard Law’s first-year class, with a total of 132 students (23.4 percent).
The numbers at Vanderbilt Law are even more dismal than Harvard.