DIVERSITY CORNER
DIVERSITY CORNER
Diversity in Legal Education
MARC HERNANDEZ
Have you applied to a legal job and been asked where you went to law school ? By itself , the question is relevant and harmless , but the question also may reflect or lead to biases that prevent consideration of the applicant as an individual .
Presumably most lawyers are proud of our alma maters — whether they be Florida public or private universities , out-ofstate universities , HBCUs , universities with a religious affiliation , and of course , Ivy League universities . We worked hard to get into our institutions , to earn our degrees , and to form long-lasting ties with our alumni networks .
For better or worse , all law schools have a reputation , including for academic rigor , utilization of a particular teaching method , emphasis of either practical skills or theory , association with a jurisprudential school of thought , and success of their graduates in passing the bar and practicing as lawyers . However , reputation does not always match reality .
Many law schools invest significant resources to obtain a high ranking from publications like U . S . News & World
Report . But recently at least 16 law schools — public and private institutions ranked between # 1 and # 49 — voluntarily withdrew themselves from the ranking system . Deans of these institutions — with their names deliberately omitted — have expressed the following concerns :
• “ Overall , the [ U . S . News ranking ] methodology creates incentives that work against schools ’ interest in attracting and retaining classes of students with a broadly diverse set of qualities and experiences , and in supporting the widest possible array of career choices for their graduates ...”
• “ They create the wrong incentives by rewarding schools for the amount they spend , regardless of whether this money is spent directly on the student experience , rather than prioritizing outcomes that really matter to students , such as the longterm employment of graduates .”
• “[ L ] aw schools to a greater or lesser degree sometimes are forced to consider the effect of any changes in their programs on their rank . . . . While [ our law school ] has consistently resisted the pressure to take actions that are contrary to our mission , the demands of the U . S . News algorithm always lurk in the background .”
• “ Rankings can provide helpful guidance , and U . S . News has long aggregated data about law schools . . . . That said , overreliance on a single source can distort decisionmaking , and any given ranking is only as useful as the relevance and accuracy of the comparative information on which it is based .”
These concerns complement my own observations , which have been that a graduate from a “ lower-tier ” law school can be smarter , more successful , and a better overall advocate than one who graduated from a “ top ” school .
None of this means it is inherently wrong to ask lawyers where they went to law school . If you have been on a hiring committee , the question is often wellintentioned when asked in a manner designed to connect with the applicant , or to get a brief sense of his or her background . However , overreliance on the question — just like overreliance on law school rankings — can be problematic if we form preconceived notions about the applicant that cause us to ignore other data points showing an applicant from a “ less prestigious ” school is more qualified than an applicant from our “ preferred ” school .
Fortunately , a recent trend of employers considering more than an applicant ’ s law school pedigree is emerging .
Justices on the U . S . Supreme Court have traditionally selected their law clerks from the most elite law schools , but Justice Clarence Thomas — himself a graduate of Yale Law School — has disagreed with this approach . Believing that other justices are biased against lower-tier law schools and have created a “ new or faux nobility ” among lawyers , Justice Thomas has been critical :
“ Isn ’ t that the antithesis of what this country is supposed to be about ? Isn ’ t that the bias that we fought about on racial terms , or on terms of sex , or on terms of religion , et cetera ? My new bias , which I now embrace , is that I don ’ t eliminate the Ivies in hiring , but I intentionally prefer kids from regular backgrounds and regular students . . . . I never look at those rankings . . . . There are smart kids every place .”
Although this way of thinking used to be isolated , other justices have come around to Justice Thomas ’ s approach . Members of the U . S . Supreme Court ’ s 2023 clerkship class graduated from 13 different law schools , a historically high number . The Court ’ s newest justice , Ketanji Brown Jackson , has hired three non-Ivy League law clerks in a little over one year , and going forward , Justice Jackson has committed to a transparent hiring process that is open to all .
This is not to say that every lawyer deserves to be hired for an elite position like a U . S . Supreme Court clerkship . Rather , this article merely calls for a recognition that lawyers of all educational backgrounds excel at prestigious jobs . As a result , lawyers of all educational backgrounds should be considered when hiring for them .
Marc Hernandez is a board certified appellate attorney at Lytal , Reiter , Smith , Ivey & Fronrath .
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