For the legal industry, which already lags in representation for people of color at all levels of firm practice, this decision will have a negative impact on law school diversity and subsequent law firm candidate pipelines as demonstrated by those states already barring affirmative action (see California).

To counter this, law firms will need to expand recruitment efforts to reach a broader pool of talent and utilize technology solutions to more accurately and equitably assess talent. When many firms are facing increased budget scrutiny and financial performance pressure, technology solutions that increase the scope and efficiency of recruiting as well as the accuracy and fairness of hiring are a key resource successfully used by many industries, but still virtually untapped in the legal industry.

Ending Affirmative Action Raises Real Barriers for Firms

The impact of the Harvard College case is already being felt in the workplace. A lawsuit has been filed against firm fellowships. Education policy experts have analyzed how these rulings against affirmative action are impacting diversity within student populations. As University of Texas professor Stella Flores summarized for NPR, “the research is exceptionally clear. There’s no other alternative method that will racially diversify a student body, other than the use of race as one factor of consideration.” Yet GOP senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas already fired a warning shot across the bow of 51 big law firms in an open letter threatening to use congressional oversight and the judiciary to dismantle DEI initiatives and hiring practices.

In addition to moral arguments, a lack of diversity in schools and workplaces harms business and economic performance. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Charlotte A. Burrows issued a statement making explicit the impact this ruling has on businesses and our economy. “[This] decision…will undoubtedly hamper the efforts…to ensure diverse student bodies. That’s a problem for our economy because businesses often rely on colleges and universities to provide a diverse pipeline of talent for recruitment and hiring. Diversity helps companies attract top talent, sparks innovation, improves employee satisfaction, and enables companies to better serve their customers.”

What may seem more acutely an admissions challenge for schools is clearly a looming problem for the broader legal industry. This ruling will affect the demographics of future classes of lawyers. Fewer law students of color on campuses means fewer potential summer associates and candidates of color for law firms. Law School Admission Council President Kellye Testy expressed a call to action for “all of us in legal education, at bar associations, and in practice…to redouble efforts to make sure the entire pre-law to practice pipeline is better.”

But it isn’t only a numbers game. Traditional evaluation criteria for candidates—school rank and GPA— reflect their own structural biases. Law firms can no longer rely on existing recruiting methods or hiring metrics to achieve diverse, high-performing attorney workforces. The American Bar Association recognizes this and urges firms to “reevaluate their hiring practices, particularly during the [on-campus interview] process” to consider a wider range of factors for employment decisions.

How Technology Can Help

Candidates of color are already underrepresented in law schools today, and the removal of race-conscious admissions will further exacerbate the situation. Law firms will need to consider candidates from a substantially larger number of schools than they do today. Increasing the volume of candidates to consider and schools to recruit from is a tall order on already resource-strapped recruiting staff.

Law firms can leverage software tools to help broaden their funnels to include and consider more candidates. Virtual interviewing platforms enable firms to evaluate candidates without the constraints of travel budgets or time out of the office for attorneys. Other providers can enable access to networks of candidates, which extend the access of any one firm well beyond their own efforts. Technologies like these can significantly boost top-of-funnel representation and provide greater diversity throughout the process. Based on our client data, on average, clients that leverage innovative software solutions to extend their efforts see an approximate 300% increase in candidates from underrepresented groups in their pipelines.

Expanding access to talent is only one part of the challenge. How firms evaluate candidates (e.g., school rank, GPA, and interviews) once they’re in the pipeline comes with its own challenges. In a recent analysis of law firms, we found that school rank, GPA, and other resume data taken all together have less than a 10% correlation to an attorney’s actual on-the-job performance. It’s a sobering statistic that underlines the need for firms to reach beyond these traditional factors to improve hiring decisions and firm diversity.

In any recruiting process, a myriad of factors determine a candidate’s potential—too many for any one recruiter to consider without the use of technology. Firms must expand the type and number of factors that they evaluate when making hiring decisions. The complex rubrics that inevitably develop based on this expansion of traits and characteristics considered presents a perfect opportunity for advanced data analytics technologies like machine learning to help interpret results and improve hiring decisions and outcomes.

Technology Is the Game Changer You Need

Law firm recruiting methods are under greater scrutiny given the changing landscape caused by the Supreme Court affirmative action decision. This creates both urgency and opportunity to build better hiring practices that withstand legal scrutiny and deliver stronger, more diverse talent.

Firms that implement a more data-driven hiring process have already made headway in expanding access to talent. Use of technology and artificial intelligence can result in improvements in law firm retention rates despite the high attrition rates experienced over the past couple years. In the face of macroeconomic and political uncertainty, the legal industry has an opportunity to set the example for changes in recruiting, hiring, retention, and professional development. By considering alternative solutions that broaden networks for sourcing talent and new models for developing talent, law firms can lessen the negative impact of the recent affirmative action ruling and build stronger, more diverse, inclusive, and competitive firms of the future.

Matt Spencer is the Co-founder and CEO of Suited, the hiring intelligence platform built for modern professional services firms. Suited delivers an independent evaluation of candidate potential using objective, relevant data, and predictive analytics so that firms can make the most accurate and equitable hiring decisions possible.

Angela Vallot is a member of the Board of Directors of Suited, and Partner and Co-Founder of VallotKarp, a renowned DEI Consulting Firm.