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City University of New York (CUNY)

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Do Law School Outcomes Follow The Legal Myth Of Thirds?: An Analysis Of The After The J.D. Study, Michael W. Raphael, Tanesha A. Thomas Aug 2015

Do Law School Outcomes Follow The Legal Myth Of Thirds?: An Analysis Of The After The J.D. Study, Michael W. Raphael, Tanesha A. Thomas

Graduate Student Publications and Research

The legal myth of thirds is the belief that each graduating class of law students can be divided into thirds where the top third end up becoming law professors, the middle third become judges and the bottom third become lawyers. Such discourse is indicative of a meritocratic society and a 2014 survey done at a small New England law school found that 36.9% of respondents (N=92) have indeed heard that this was the case. The authors feel that the mere existence of such a rumor suggests that there is concern regarding intra-professional stratification. Using data from the American Bar Foundation’s …


Becoming Gentlemen: Women's Experiences At One Ivy League Law School, Lani Guinier, Michelle Fine, Jane Balin, Ann Bartow, Deborah Lee Stachel Nov 1994

Becoming Gentlemen: Women's Experiences At One Ivy League Law School, Lani Guinier, Michelle Fine, Jane Balin, Ann Bartow, Deborah Lee Stachel

Publications and Research

In this Article we describe preliminary research by and about women law students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School—a typical, if elite, law school stratified deeply along gender lines. Our database draws from students enrolled at the Law School between 1987 and 1992, and includes academic performance data from 981 students, self-reported survey data from 366 students, written narratives from 104 students, and group-level interview data of approximately eighty female and male students.' From these data we conclude that the law school experience of women in the aggregate differs markedly from that of their male peers.