Inequity and distrust: imagining the anti-racist law school

Research on the experience of Black law students is hampered by a lack of trust in the legal academy by people of colour. Staff and students of colour have put emotional energy into responding to universities’ requests for feedback only for their views to be misrepresented or ignored; leading to an intergenerational distrust and therefore disengagement. This makes it difficult for law teachers to gain insight into how to decolonise the experiences of their students, leading to clumsy attempts that fail to recognise the vulnerability we demand of students. We give our law students assessments that require them to open themselves up to being judged, often including reflective exercises that reward students who expose their authentic (White) selves. We expect students to trust our assessment practices, despite there still being a considerable Black awarding gap. Black students are the least likely group to submit work - the response of law schools is to encourage Black students to submit, without addressing the underlying lack of trust. This deficit approach is inappropriate. It is our responsibility as legal educators to build trust and maintain it. This paper concludes by imagining an anti-racist law school, that deserves the trust of its Black students.