Congratulations to the Newly Appointed Women Law School Deans

The National Law Journal reports that women are making 'remarkable' gains in law school deanships, accounting for about 40 percent of the deans named in recent months. Ms. JD would like to congratulate the following newly appointed Deans:

Darby Dickerson, Stetson University College of Law

Margaret Raymond, University of Wisconsin Law School

Stacy Leeds, University of Arkansas School of Law

Annette Clark, Saint Louis University School of Law

Jane Korn, Gonzaga University School of Law

Maria Pabon Lopez, Loyola University New Orleans School of Law

Deanell Tacha, Pepperdine University School of Law

Wendy Perdue, University of Richmond School of Law

Read more here.

Have Your Been to the Library Lately?

I am talking about Ms. JD's Library.  Two years after Ms. JD launched the Library, the Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas School of Law partnered with Ms. JD to expand the database.

Today the Library includes more than 500 resource abstracts for books, articles, reports, and best practice recommendations on topics ranging from work/life balance and retention issues to stereotyping and gender bias in evaluation and compensation systems.  We have categorized these resources by topic. You can search all the resources or search within a topic area. You can limit your search to only one type of resource, e.g. "Academic Publication." 

For students thinking about writing a paper on the legal profession, gender bias, or an area of feminist legal theory this is a great place to start - it's the most comprehensive collection of its kind. That said, we're always looking to add more items to our collection. If you see something missing please email it to me!

Oldie But Goodie: Western Legal History Vol. 7, No. 2

Last weekend I had the pleasure of presenting, alongside Pat Gillette from the No Glass Ceiling Initiative and Linda Chanow from UT's Center for Women in Law, at the National Conference of Women's Bar Associations.  I do not mean to detract at all from the programming - it was a great event and I was flattered to be included - but the highlight might just be the goodie bags.

When you go to these conferences you get a tote full of useless items: brochures from sponsors, pens from the hotel, etc.  Well the NCWBA tote bag was in a class by itself. Not only did we get Ghiradelli chocolates, but we got an issue of Western Legal History, a publication of the 9th Circuit's Historical Society (who knew they had one?).  This issue of the publication is from Summer/Fall 1994 - no sping chicken - but well worth a read: it's dedicated to the women in western legal history and the stories are unbeatable.  There's a picture of a pioneer woman holding a revolver on the cover.  How many legal publications can top that?

The articles include Ann Butler's "Women's Work in Prisons of the American West, 1865 - 1920," Margaret Holden's "Gender and Protest Ideology: Sue Ross Keenan and the Oregon Anti-Chinese Movement," Donna Schuele's "Community Property Law and the Politics of Married Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century California," and James Muhn's fascinating piece "Women and the Homestead Act: Land Department Administration of a Legal Imbroglio, 1863 - 1934."  I highly recommend all four.  Unfortunately you may have to trek down to a local library to find them ...

A Plum Opportunity in a Down Economy: ED's Post Open at UT's CWIL

The recently launched Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin is looking for a new Executive Director. The Center seems like a pretty amazing place to work. Not only are they the first of their kind, the job is a straight path to academia through a non-traditional route, not to mention an opportunity to work with a group of alumnae founders that's hard to beat.

Ms. JD is partnering with the Center on a number of initiatives including their Law School Task Force anda revampedonline library. So I know from personal experience that the outgoing ED, Hannah Brenner is pretty stellar. I'm guessing that in this down economy the Center will be able to find someone amazing to replace her. 

After the jump, a position description and information on who to contact should you or someone you know be interested in the opportunity:

How to Become a Law Professor -- The Move from Big Law to Academia

Professor William B. Rubenstein of Harvard Law School will be conducting a half-day seminar on June 20, 2009 in New York City to help those who are interested in making the transition from private practice to legal academia. Visit http://billrubenstein.com/seminar.html for more details!

Harvard Gender and the Law Conference -- Registration Required by March 2, 2009

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University will be hosting a conference entitled Gender and the Law: Unintended Consequences, Unsettled Questions" from Thursday, March 12, 2009, to Friday, March 13, 2009. Registration for the event is required by Monday, March 2, 2009. Click here to register for the conference.

Dean Search Committee Names Finalists: Four out of Five are Women

Four out five of finalists to serve as the next Dean of the University of Maryland School of Law are women. The finalists include Wendy Collins Perdue, Phoebe A. Haddon, Linda S. Mullenix, Leah Ward Sears, and Mark A. Sargent.

After 10 years of service, the Law School's current dean, Karen H. Rothenberg, will step down at the end of the current academic year.

Click here for more information on these remarkable finalists.

Peggy Cooper Davis: Most Influential Woman in Legal Education

The National Jurist Magazine named Peggy Cooper Davis one of The Most Influential People in Legal Education this month.  Dean David Van Zandt and Professor Frederick Schauer joined Professor Davis in receiving the honor.

Peggy Cooper Davis is a Professor of Lawyering and Ethics at New York University School of Law. She is also the Director of the widely-acclaimed Lawyering Program at NYU.  

Working through the Lawyering Program, and through related interdisciplinary seminars and colloquia, Professor Davis strives to revolutionize legal education so that it systematically addresses the interpretive, interactive, ethical and social dimensions of professional practice.

Prior to joining the faculty of NYU in 1983, Professor Davis served for three years as a Judge of the Family Court of the State of New York. Professor Davis penned the book Neglected Stories.

Off Track in Academia

While I can't pretend to be in the know about the gender politics of legal academia, an interesting study was brought to my attention by the FeministLawProfs today.  The study, the largest of its kind, found that

"[Women academics] are deeply frustrated by a system that they believe undervalues their work and denies them opportunities for a balanced life. While the study found some overt discrimination in the form of harassment or explicitly sexist remarks, many of the concerns involved more subtle “deeply entrenched inequities."

Even as somebody who is not involved in academia, I have always been keenly aware of the higher percentage of women in the non-tenure track positions and in positions of service, such as assistant deanships and counselors.  I recently had a discussion with an aspiring professor who informed me that many women take non-tenure track positions just to get their foot in the door of academia later to find out that it is nearly impossible to jump from one track to the other.  This is very similar to the track of "staff attorney" which is a non-partnership track at many large firms.  There too, it is nearly impossible to jump the tracks. 

However, the similarities between the numbers for women in academia and law firms are striking.  Believe it or not, in a statement criticizing the study, the university at which the author of the study works said this about it the progress of women on its faculty:

Women account for 43 percent of assistant professors, 37 percent of associate professors, and 22 percent of full professors. Those figures are going up in science and technology fields too, [the school] noted, and women now are 37 percent of assistant professors, 31 percent of associate professors and 18 percent of full professors in those disciplines.

Boy, this "progress" looks very similar to law firm numbers where women are 47% of junior associates and 18% of partners.  Hmmmm.

Preventing Violence Against Law Profs

Tracy McGaugh at Feminist Law Profs reviews a piece coauthored by Carol Parker, U. Tennessee-Knoxville College of Law: "Anger and Violence on Campus: Recommendations for Legal Educators." In the wake of the latest university shooting--at Northern Illinois U last week--Parker's recommendations feel especially timely. The article, which is publicly available on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN), outlines predictors of violent behavior and policies for violence prevention. Most of the policies require enactment by school administrations--these aren't risks that profs can manage entirely on their own. The article, McGaugh explains,

touches on the almost-taboo topic of junior faculty members who have to choose whether they will press administration to take measures to keep professors safe or whether they will keep quiet so they don’t get labeled as a trouble-maker and hurt their chances of promotion. Choosing between livelihood and life is probably not a choice any of us thought we’d have to make.

[More after the jump]