Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:35:21.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rollin'On the River: Race, Elite Schools, and the Equality Paradox

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

David B. Wilkins
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Lempert, Chambers, and Adams's superb new study of the careers of minority and white graduates of the University of Michigan Law School will come as welcome news to those who value diversity on this nation's college and professional school campuses. Alongside the Bowen-Box study (1998), to which the authors link their work, the Michigan data provide powerful evidence of the many benefits of affirmative action for both minority and majority students, as well as for a constituency that is often overlooked in the debate over affirmative action—namely, the people these aspiring professionals are intended to serve. More important, the authors' careful analysis reveals what many have long suspected. LSAT scores and undergraduate GPAs “seem to have no relationship to success after law school, whether success is measured by earned income, career satisfaction, or service contributions” (Lempert, Chambers, and Adams 2000, 401).

Type
“From The Trenches and Towers”
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , Spring 2000 , pp. 527 - 556
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2000 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrett, Paul M. 1999. The Good Black: A True Story of Race in America. New York: Dutton Press.Google Scholar
Bowen, William G., and Derek, Bok. 1998. The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms. 199697. Directory of Minority Partners .Google Scholar
Chicago: American Bar Association. Davis, Ann. 1996. Big Jump in Minority Associates, But…. National Law Journal , 29 April, pp. 1, 22.Google Scholar
Dawson, Michael. 1994. Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African American Politics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Edwards, Harry T. 1971. A New Role for the Black Graduate–A Reality or an Illusion. Michigan Law Review 69:1407–45.Google Scholar
Fogerty, John. 1968. Proud Mary. Jondora Music (BMI), courtesy of Fantasy, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Recorded by Ike and Tina Turner. Workin' Together (1971 Liberty Records). Original Sound Record.Google Scholar
Galanter, Marc, and Thomas, Palay. 1991. Tournament of Lawyers: The Transformation of the Big Law Firm. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Guinier, Lani. 2000. Confirmative Action. Law and Social Inquiry 25:565–583.Google Scholar
Heinz, John P., and Laumann, Edward O. 1982. Chicago Lawyers: The Social Structure of the Bar. New York: Russell Sage Foundation; Chicago: American Bar Foundation.Google Scholar
Hochschild, Jennifer L. 1995. Facing up to the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul of the Nation. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hull, Kathleen E. 1999. Cross Examining the Myth of Lawyers' Misery. Vanderbilt Law Review 52:971–83.Google Scholar
Knapp, Vance, and Bonnie, Grover. 1994 The Corporate Law Firm-Can It Achieve Diversity National Black Law Journal 13:298–325.Google Scholar
Kornhauser, Lewis, and Richard, Revesz. 1995. Legal Education and Entry into the Legal Profession: The Role of Race, Gender, and Educational Debt. New York University Law Review 70:829–910.Google Scholar
Lempert, Richard O., Chambers, David L., and Terry Adams, K. 2000. Michigan's Minority Graduates in Practice: The River Runs Through Law School. Law and Social Inquiry 25:395–505.Google Scholar
National Association for Law Placement (NALP). 1998. Keeping the Keepers: Strategies for Associate Retention in Times of Attrition. Washington, D.C.: Foundation for Research and Education.Google Scholar
Rebitzer, James B., and Taylor, Lowell J. 1995. Efficiency Wages and Employment Rents: The Employer-Size Wage Effect in the Job Market for Lawyers. Journal of Laboratory Economics 13:678–701.Google Scholar
Russell, Thomas D. 2000. The Shape of the Michigan River as Viewed from the Land of Sweatt v. Painter and Hopwood . Law and Social Inquiry 25:507–509.Google Scholar
Thomas, David, and Gabarro, John J. 1999. Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Labor, Federal Glass Ceiling Commission. 1995. Good for Business: Making Full Use of the Nation's Capital. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Wilkins, David B. 1993. Two Paths to the Mountaintop? The Role of Legal Education in Shaping the Values of Black Corporate Lawyers. Stanford Law Review 45:1981–2026.Google Scholar
Wilkins, David B. 1997. Social Engineers or Corporate Tools?Brown v. Board of Education and the Conscience of the Black Bar. In Race, Law, and Culture: Reflections on Brown v. Board of Education, ed. Austin, Sarat. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wilkins, David B. 1998. Do Clients Have Ethical Obligations to Lawyers? Some Lessons from the Diversity Wars. Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 11:855–99.Google Scholar
Wilkins, David B. 1999a. On Being Good and Black. Harvard Law Review 112:1924–75.Google Scholar
Wilkins, David B. 1999b. Partners without Power: A Preliminary Examination of Black Partners in Corporate Law Firms. Hofstra Journal of the Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics 2:15–48.Google Scholar
Wilkins, David B. 1999c. The Professional Responsibility of Professional Schools to Study and Teach About the Profession. Journal of Legal Education 49:76–95.Google Scholar
Wilkins, David B. Forthcoming. The New Social Engineers. The Making of the Black Corporate Bar and What it Means for America.Google Scholar
Wilkins, David B., and Gulati, G. Mitu. 1996. Why Are There So Few Black Lawyers in Corporate Law Firms? An Institutional Analysis. California Law Review 84:493–625.Google Scholar
Wilkins, David B., and Gulati, G. Mitu. 1998. Reconceiving the Tournament of Lawyers: Tracking, Seeding, and Information Control in the Internal Labor Markets of Elite Law Firms. Virginia Law Review 84:1581–681.Google Scholar