Minority Issues
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Government
SMU Law Alum Salman Bhojani And Other Attorneys Of Color Continue To Face Blatant Discrimination In Local And National Elections
Diversity is not self-executing. It must be fought for, every step of the way. -
Law Schools
Diversity & Inclusion For Recent Law School Grads Seems To Be Taking A Back Seat In Private Practice
The percentage of black law school graduates who are working in private practice is stunningly low. - Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get… -
Conferences / Symposia
Why CEO Karen Hester Will Focus On Millennials For The 12th Annual Legal Inclusiveness & Diversity Conference
The conference will feature national experts discussing cutting-edge diversity and inclusiveness topics.
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Law Schools
T14 Law School's Law Review Appoints Its First Black Male Editor-In-Chief In History
What is your law school doing to encourage diversity on its law review? -
Law Schools
Why Chasity Boyce and Tiffany Harper Co-Founded DAPP, And Their Mission To Train Women of Color
DAPP needs your help and support to continue to flood the pipeline to law firms and coveted legal positions with talented women of color. -
Biglaw
Moneyball Meets Attorney Recruitment
Failing at diverse hiring means leaving money on the table. -
Government
You Realize Arming Teachers Is Going To Lead To Black Students Getting Murdered By Their Teacher, Right?
If you give public employees guns, they will turn them on black people. -
In-House Counsel
You’re In The Room, Now What? 7 Board Diversity Arguments For In-House Counsel
Your company needs a diverse board, and as in-house counsel you can help make that happen. - Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
Law Schools
Judge Who Made Racist Comments To Law Students Resigns
Can this judge ever be fair to minorities from her high seat on the bench? -
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Law Schools
Judge Tells Law Students That Rooms 'Full Of Big Dark People' Make Her Uncomfortable
The school called this an 'important learning moment' for law students. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 01.04.18
* Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has apparently “lost his mind,” and now he’s found himself on the receiving end of a cease-and-desist letter from President Trump’s lawyers, with claims that he’d not only violated his employment agreement with the Trump Organization, but that he’d likely defamed Trump. [Washington Post]
* According to Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York will be filing suit against the government over the new tax plan, contending that its limitation on SALT deductions constitutes unconstitutional “double taxation.” Will other states with high local taxes get on board? [Big Law Business]
* In an effort to beat a deadline, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is using his executive authority to appoint almost 20 interim U.S. attorneys. The jurisdictions where these appointments were made include districts in California, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, the Virgin Islands, and Washington. [NBC News]
* There were 102 law firm mergers in 2017, topping a record that was previously set in 2015. Now, just a few days into 2018, law firm mergers are still going strong and show no sign of stopping, and it may be because younger managing partners have replaced their baby boomer predecessors. [American Lawyer]
* Earlier this week, Judge Adrienne Nelson was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court by Governor Kate Brown. Nelson is the first African-American to ever serve on the state’s high court. Congratulations on making history, Your Honor! [Oregonian]
* Yet another DOJ veteran is leaving for greener pastures in academia. This time, it’s Doug Letter, director of the Civil Division appellate staff, who will bring 40 years of government service experience to Georgetown Law, where he’ll join the school’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection. [National Law Journal]
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Law Schools
Armed With A Yale Law Degree, She Became A Woman Of Many Firsts
How many firsts did this woman achieve over the course of her career?
Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
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Law Schools
New Dean Will Be Only Woman Of Color To Lead Top 30 Law School
We can only hope that the school will continue its meteoric rise in the rankings under her guidance. -
Crime
The Making Of A Felon: How Poverty And Race Are Putting People In Prison
If you're white and wealthy, you can avoid being branded as a felon for the rest of your life. -
Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 11.27.17
* According to recently released tax records, a mystery donor gave more than $28 million to the Wellspring Committee to keep Justice Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court seat in Republican hands and help get Neil Gorsuch confirmed. How awesome would it be if that mystery donor were the president himself? [Law Newz]
* The DOJ says Trump can appoint the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the Federal Vacancies Act, but the Dodd-Frank Act says the deputy director will head the agency in the absence of a permanent director. Now we have two dueling CFPB directors, AND there’s a lawsuit. Yay! [The Hill; CNN]
* FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is so against Chairman Ajit Pai’s “lousy plan” to do away with net neutrality that she wrote an op-ed to plead for help: “I’m on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality.” She encourages us to “make a ruckus” about this — and we really, really should. [Los Angeles Times]
* The layoffs are coming! The layoffs are coming! Along with Sedgwick’s announcement that the faltering firm intends to close its doors in early 2018 comes the news that it will shutter its back office operations center. Up to 75 people are expected to lose their jobs. It’ll be a not-so happy New Year. [American Lawyer]
* Start placing your bets: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in New Jersey’s sports betting case next week, and is expected to issue a ruling in June. What’s the over/under on the high court overturning the federal ban on sports betting? Come on, SCOTUS, make Atlantic City great again! [NJ.com]
* Representative John Conyers Jr. will be stepping down from his platoon as the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee during an investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed his former aides. Even though a settlement was made in 2015, Conyers continues to deny the allegations. [New York Times]
* The InfiLaw System has been lowering the bar for minority law students for years and years and dooming them to hundreds of thousands of dollars of nondischargeable loan debt, and the man who started it all seems relatively disappointed with what’s happened and the awful outcomes students have seen. [Wall Street Journal]
* “I think when it’s all said and done, what you’re gonna see is there was nothing racial that motivated this.” The lawyer representing the white University of Hartford student who smeared period blood all over her black roommate’s things to get her to move out doesn’t think his client should be charged with a hate crime. [Hartford Courant]
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Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 11.20.17
* President Trump has added five names to his slate of judicial candidates to fill a nonexistent vacancy on the Supreme Court. Welcome aboard to Judges Brett M. Kavanaugh (D.C. Circuit), Amy Coney Barrett (Seventh Circuit), and Kevin C. Newsom (Eleventh Circuit), as well as Justices Britt C. Grant (Georgia Supreme Court) and Patrick R. Wyrick (Oklahoma Supreme Court). [New York Times]
* Did Trump obstruct justice in the Russia probe? We may soon find out. Special counsel Robert Mueller has requested all manner of documents from the Justice Department related to the firing of former FBI director James Comey. [ABC News]
* In other Trump-related legal news, rather than continuing to have his re-election campaign or the Republican Party foot the bill for his legal representation in the Russia probe, the president has officially started to pay his own legal tab. [Reuters]
* Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill, who was considering running for governor, bragged about the fact that he’d been “sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females.” After much backlash, he told his detractors to “lighten up” and offered a nonpology. He won’t be running for governor anymore. [Washington Post]
* FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is about to pull the plug on net neutrality, and Americans are too distracted by Thanksgiving to care. Luckily for us, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel wants open hearings to take place before a vote is held. [Slate]
* “Probation is a trap and we must fight for Meek and everyone else unjustly sent to prison.” In the wake of rapper Meek Mill being sentenced to up to four years in prison for violating his probation, Jay-Z is letting everyone know he’s got 99 problems and the way the criminal justice system treats minorities is one of them. [New York Times]
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Biglaw
Women Lawyers: Slowly Chipping Away At The Glass Ceiling
Kudos to the brave women lawyers who filed suit and are the instigators of change in the legal profession. -
Minority Issues
Noticeable Improvement In Leadership Representation, But Challenges Remain For Minorities In The Legal Profession
We have to understand the root causes of why law firms are failing on the diversity front to develop a proper strategy to combat the status quo. -
Minority Issues, Women's Issues
Should We Leave The Issue Of Diversity In The Hands Of Biglaw?
Perhaps the answer is for the ranks of the underrepresented in our profession to simply change the model and the profession as a whole.