Where Are Black Lawyers Today?
The Practice
July/August 2017
This issue explores the CLP report, "Harvard Law School: Report on the State of Black Alumni II, 2000–2016," a major survey of black HLS graduates.
July/August 2017
Intersectionality and the Careers of Black Women Lawyers
To investigate the significance of race in the careers of black lawyers, and to document the achievements of Harvard Law School’s black graduates, in 2016–2017 the Center on the Legal Profession (CLP) surveyed virtually all living black HLS alumni about their careers since graduating from law school. The survey, which was officially launched in the fall of 2016, covered a wide range of issues.
A Celebration of the History of Black Lawyers
On June 5, 2017, the Center on the Legal Profession hosted its third annual awards dinner. This year, held at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), the awards dinner had a rich theme that provided for yet another special night: “A Celebration of the History of Black Lawyers.”
Minority Leaders
Noticing a gap in research on the underrepresentation of minorities in law firms, Fiona Kay and Elizabeth Gorman set out to answer the eponymous question: Which kinds of law firms have the most minority lawyers?
The Education of Black Lawyers
This story takes a step back and hones in on the very early years of any lawyer’s career—their law school experiences. Among the innumerable challenges facing law schools today, perhaps none of them are more challenging to the advancement of the black bar than the pipeline problem facing black law students. Coinciding with the dip in overall student enrollment, law schools find themselves competing for the same small group of black applicants.
The Legal Profession in the Age of Obama
In this article, we will consider this data, but also contextualize it with the perspectives and reflections of three lawyers from across different generations, bringing with them different experiences involving race within and outside of the profession. In some cases, their perspectives confirm the results of the survey as it applies to their lives and careers; in other cases, they offer counterpoints to more-generalized findings.
We Have Been Here Before
"At times like these, we need to be reminded of the journey, because, though so much of what we are experiencing today is 'not normal,' it is also not new. Our situation may feel unprecedented and our course may feel uncharted, but we have been here before."
