Number of Black Students Enrolled in Harvard Law School’s First Year Class Rebounds, Per Bloomberg

Harvard Law School enrolled more Black students in its 2028 J.D. class than last year, bouncing back from a major drop for the Class of 2027, according to Bloomberg News, which cited unnamed sources.

The number of Black students increased from 19 to a number similar to the average from 2020 to 2023 — 46 Black students, according to admissions data released every year in December by the American Bar Association. Bloomberg did not report the total number of Black students enrolled in the Class of 2028, and a HLS spokesperson declined to comment on the increase.

The HLS Class of 2027 — the first admitted since the Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action in university admissions — included the smallest share of Black students at HLS since the 1960s. The number of Black students reached its peak in 2009 with 67 students but decreased to 31 in 2016.

The number of Hispanic students also dropped from 63 to 32 students in 2024, while the number of Asian students increased from 103 to 132 students.

The demographic and test score data for the incoming class — which each J.D. degree-granting institution is required to submit — is typically available each December following the admissions cycle.

The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision prohibits universities receiving federal funding from considering an applicant’s race in making admission decisions. Though the Court’s ruling allows universities to consider race in the context of personal experience through personal essays, the Trump administration has recently argued any consideration of race could be illegal.

In the ruling’s wake, Black alumni and the Harvard Black Law Students Association increased efforts to recruit students, including a new prospective student newsletter by the Harvard Black Law Students Association. HLS participates in a law recruitment program for first-generation and low income students with Paul Weiss, but it does not have an initiative focused on racial minority recruitment.

But the University has also moved to shutter diversity offices on campus and end a minority recruitment program for undergraduate admissions.

The decrease in enrollment numbers last year at HLS mirrors enrollment demographics at Harvard College, where the percentage of Black students enrolled in the freshmen class dipped by four percentage points in 2024.

In a statement from last year, HLS spokesperson said the data for one class is “necessarily limited.”

“Harvard Law School remains committed both to following the law and to fostering an on-campus community and a legal profession that reflect numerous dimensions of human experience,” Neal wrote.

This past weekend, the Law School honored its Black alumni through a series of speaker panels and reunion events, including a conversation with Associate Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was honored by the Law School’s alumni association.

—Staff writer Caroline G. Hennigan can be reached at caroline.hennigan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cghennigan.

—Staff writer Sidhi Dhanda can be reached at sidhi.dhanda@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sidhidhanda.