“Like whom, mom?” Structural inequalities in Brazilian law schools

Daniel de Freitas Nunes and Fabio de Sa e Silva

Chapter 9 in Research Handbook on Global Legal Education, 2026, pp 161-187 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter investigates demands for diversification in Brazilian legal careers by analyzing the demographics of law students. Drawing on socioeconomic data from approximately 290,000 law students collected through Enade—a census-based performance exam administered to graduating students—in 2012, 2015, and 2018, we find that Law Schools remain elitist spaces. Black and low-income students are significantly underrepresented when compared to the general population, particularly in traditional institutions (public/tuition-free or confessional), which disproportionately serve White and affluent students. By contrast, non-traditional Law Schools (private/low-cost) enroll more Black students and those with less economic and cultural capital. Regulated by these markers of persistent inequalities, the social space of Law Schools favors the reproduction of privilege. We illustrate these dynamics with two smaller-scale studies: a comparison between a traditional and a non-traditional program in Brazil's Federal District, and an examination of the social composition of the country's top-ten law schools per a reputable ranking. Despite inclusionary policies, such as quotas, inequality persists, and even emerging private institutions with modernizing ambitions leave little room for marginalized groups. We contend that these inequalities have multi-level implications, limiting the horizons of what can be desired or imagined by marginalized populations, and posing challenges to the advancement and consolidation of the rule of law in Brazil.

Keywords: Legal Education; Inequality; Rule of Law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781788117005
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