Systemic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools

From the Jurist: Law School Buzz, 11/8/2004:

It's not every day that a law review article generates a page-B1 story
in the Wall Street Journal while still in draft version. With his
"Systemic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools"
[draft], however, Professor Richard Sander of the
UCLA School of Law has managed to do just that. A self-
described proponent of race-conscious strategies himself,
Sander argues from the data that in practice, affirmative
action at the law school level has actually harmed its
intended beneficiaries. Specifically, substantial admissions
preferences have "mismatched" many black law students into
academic environments where they enter at a comparative
disadvantage, and where early classroom difficulties create
negative consequences for bar passage rates and employment
prospects.

Critics, however, are already taking their shots.
According to the Journal, Professor Richard Lempert of the
University of Michigan Law School is already honing a "harsh
critique" for submission to the Stanford Law Review, the
publication that will carry the final version of Sander's
"Systematic Analysis" later this month . Sander, for his part,
promises to offer all sides in the spirited dialogue that is sure
to follow on his resource page for the article."