These are tough times for the law profession. Employment prospects are the weakest they have been in decades. Wages have stagnated. Many blue chip law firms have laid off lawyers or are hiring fewer lawyers. Lately, law schools have been accused of luring students with false promises of cushy, high-paying jobs. There have been accusations of law…

Some law school graduates struggle to adjust to job landscape changes after the recent economic downturn. It remains a tough job market for new lawyers, even experienced ones, especially for African-Americans who did not attend top law schools or attain distinctions as editors of law reviews, for example. Graduates have been turning more to jobs…

The homepage of the Project on Fair Representation (POFR) features a smiling photo of Abigail Fisher, the young White woman at the center of "Fisher v. the University of Texas," which could end race as a criterion in university admissions. Edward Blum, founder of POFR, a conservative advocacy group, connected Fisher with Wiley Rein LLP,…

Legal practitioners find the leap into academia difficult. A much bigger deterrent for lawyers interested in teaching is a laborious, oft-vexing application process that places little value on work experience and interests. They also chide law school hiring committees for a lack of outreach to Asian Pacific Islanders. Law educators emphasize that…

Hispanics and Blacks make up about 15.1 and 12.9 percent of the U.S. population, respectively, and 3.3 and 3.9 percent of the lawyer population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Law School Admission Council. On the other hand, Whites represent about 69.1 percent of the general population and 89.2 percent of the lawyer population. These…

Recent law school graduates face the tightest job market in years. Amid lingering industrywide uncertainties, officials at some law schools are scrambling to ensure that underrepresented minorities get jobs, especially law schools not customarily tapped by the country's largest law firms. In some of the more striking measures, a dean will troop…

Just over a month after the Supreme Court of the United States' ruling in the Seattle and Louisville cases, news analysts and school district officials from Boston to Berkeley, California, from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Evanston, Illinois, are still trying to assess its impact on their student reassignment programs. But the community of scholars…

Offered by the University of Tulsa College of Law, the Native American Law Certificate program, launched in 1990, reflects the school's mission of trying to better serve American Indians and Alaska Natives in Oklahoma who, according to the 2006 U.S. Census estimates, make up 6.8 percent of the state's population. This number is significantly…

This year's crop of "Emerging Scholars"--The Class of 2008--includes a math biologist who was only the second woman to receive the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in math; a geneticist who recently became one of 20 winners of the National Science Foundation's Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers; and an extensively published…

Every year, the Emerging Scholars edition features a diverse group of rising researchers, thinkers and leaders in various fields. Their credentials and accomplishments distinguish them, but it's the level of social consciousness among the members of this year's class that makes them truly excellent. Whether it's lending a hand to society's…

In recent years, corporate executives and local bar association officials have increasingly questioned why so few of the nation's elite corporate law firms can claim significant racial and ethnic diversity among their partner or upper management ranks. Some organizations have even pledged to reward law firms that ensure high-level assignments for…

Advocates for a more inclusive legal profession are worried about the recent decline in enrollment of Black students in law school. According to the American Bar Association (ABA), Blacks were 7.4 percent of all law students in 1994. By 2005, that percentage had fallen to just 6.6. Several law journal articles have suggested that the schools…

Iraq War veteran and law professor Christopher Cooper's path to the academy has been anything but traditional. Having worked from the age of 13, he enlisted in the Marine Corps at 17 and earned his GED. He later earned a bachelor's degree in government and public administration, then joined the New York City Police Department. Then, he decided to…