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Gender, Race, And Job Satisfaction Of Law Graduates, Joni Hersch
Gender, Race, And Job Satisfaction Of Law Graduates, Joni Hersch
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Studies typically find that lawyers have high job satisfaction and that women are not less satisfied than are men. But racial differences as well as gender differences by race or ethnicity in satisfaction may be masked because most lawyers identify as racially White. To examine whether job satisfaction differs by race and whether gender and race/ethnicity have an intersectional relation to job satisfaction, I use data on nearly 13,000 law graduates drawn from six waves of the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) conducted between 2003 and 2019. The NSCG uniquely provides a large enough sample to examine intersectionality in …
Becoming Visible, Jennifer B. Shinall
Becoming Visible, Jennifer B. Shinall
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This Article will consider the consequences of a large number of workers making their health conditions known to their employers during the pandemic. Becoming visible will likely have short-term costs for both employers and employees-—in terms of health-status discrimination, privacy, and administrative burdens. Nonetheless, this Article will ultimately argue that becoming visible also has a major benefit: improved information flow between employers and employees. Although the long-run cost-benefit analysis of increased health-status visibility during the pandemic remains to be seen, increased visibility ultimately has the potential to improve the employer-employee relationship.
Why Are Seemingly Satisfied Female Lawyers Running For The Exits? Resolving The Paradox Using National Data, Joni Hersch, Erin E. Meyers
Why Are Seemingly Satisfied Female Lawyers Running For The Exits? Resolving The Paradox Using National Data, Joni Hersch, Erin E. Meyers
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Despite the fact that women are leaving the practice of law at alarmingly high rates, most previous research finds no evidence of gender differences in job satisfaction among lawyers. This Article uses nationally representative data from the 2015 National Survey of College Graduates to examine gender differences in lawyers’ job satisfaction, and finds that any apparent similarity of job satisfaction between genders likely arises from dissatisfied female JDs sorting out of the legal profession at higher rates than their male counterparts, leaving behind the most satisfied women. This Article also provides a detailed examination of the specific working conditions that …
Feminism And The Tournament, Jessica A. Clarke
Feminism And The Tournament, Jessica A. Clarke
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Naomi Bishop, the protagonist of the 2016 film "Equity," is the rare "she-wolf of Wall Street."' At the beginning of the film, Bishop appears on a panel at an alumni event. She explains her career choices to the young women in the audience as follows: I like money. I do. I like numbers. I like negotiating. I love a challenge. Turning a no into a yes. But I really do like money. I like knowing that I have it. I grew up in a house where there was never enough. I was raised by a single mom with four kids. …
Principles Of Risk Assessment: Sentencing And Policing, Christopher Slobogin
Principles Of Risk Assessment: Sentencing And Policing, Christopher Slobogin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Risk assessment — measuring an individual’s potential for offending — has long been an important aspect of criminal justice, especially in connection with sentencing, pretrial detention and police decision-making. To aid in the risk assessment inquiry, a number of states have recently begun relying on statistically-derived algorithms called “risk assessment instruments” (RAIs). RAIs are generally thought to be more accurate than the type of seat-of-the-pants risk assessment in which judges, parole boards and police officers have traditionally engaged. But RAIs bring with them their own set of controversies. In recognition of these concerns, this brief paper proposes three principles — …
Frontiers Of Sex Discrimination Law, Jessica A. Clarke
Frontiers Of Sex Discrimination Law, Jessica A. Clarke
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
A short time ago, the argument that sex discrimination includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was considered a risky litigation tactic with little hope of success. One reason was the fear that extending sex discrimination law so far would upset all sex classifications, even those on restroom doors. But the landscape has shifted. The EEOC now takes the position that sex discrimination includes all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Administrative agencies interpret federal law to require that workers and students be allowed to use restrooms consistent with their gender identities. Some federal courts …
Intersectional Complications Of Healthism, Jennifer B. Shinall
Intersectional Complications Of Healthism, Jennifer B. Shinall
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
For Americans in the labor market with health conditions that fall outside the scope of the ADA, the rehabilitation Act, and GINA, antihealthism legislation, like the kind proposed by Roberts and Leonard, 9would unquestionably serve as a critical first step in increasing their legal protections in the workplace. Moreover, to the extent that such legislation would also operate outside the workplace, it could expand legal protections even for individuals who presently enjoy coverage by disability and genetic discrimination laws solely inside the workplace. Yet, as this article has argued, simple healthism-discriminatory animus based solely on health-may be surprisingly rare. Existing …
Less Is More, Jennifer B. Shinall
Less Is More, Jennifer B. Shinall
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Eradicating discrimination is a lofty goal, ard since the second half of the twentieth century, the United States has largely relied upon the legal system to achieve this goal. Yet a great deal of scholarship suggests that the legal system may not always do a credible job. Scholars have documented multiple instances of discrimination laws' inaccessibility to discrimination victims individually and inability to improve the labor market prospects of victims as a whole. Still missing from the literature, however, is an assessment of what separates effective discrimination laws from ineffective ones. This Article fills this gap, using both qualitative and …
Unfulfilled Promises, Jennifer B. Shinall
Unfulfilled Promises, Jennifer B. Shinall
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The passage of the ACA is a source of great pride for President Barack Obama's Administration, and the President undoubtedly hopes that the ACA will be his greatest legacy. 285 As a result, it is difficult to understand why, under his administration, HHS has relinquished its rulemaking authority to the states regarding the core guarantees of the Act. For the individuals living in states in which promised essential health benefits have not yet become a reality, HHS has offered a glimmer of hope. In 2012, the agency released a bulletin stating that it would "revisit" its approach of allowing states …
Contextualizing Gay‐Straight Alliances: Student, Advisor And Structural Factors Related To Positive Youth Development Among Members, Matthew P. Shaw
Contextualizing Gay‐Straight Alliances: Student, Advisor And Structural Factors Related To Positive Youth Development Among Members, Matthew P. Shaw
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Gay-straight alliances (GSAs) may promote resilience. Yet, what GSA components predict well-being? Among 146 youth and advisors in 13 GSAs (58% lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning; 64% White; 38% received free/reduced-cost lunch), student (demographics, victimization, attendance frequency, leadership, support, control), advisor (years served, training, control), and contextual factors (overall support or advocacy, outside support for the GSA) that predicted purpose, mastery, and self-esteem were tested. In multilevel models, GSA support predicted all outcomes. Racial/ethnic minority youth reported greater well-being, yet lower support. Youth in GSAs whose advisors served longer and perceived more control and were in more supportive school contexts …
Islamic Law Meets Erisa: How America's Private Pension System Unintentionally Discriminates Against Muslims And What To Do About It, Beverly I. Moran
Islamic Law Meets Erisa: How America's Private Pension System Unintentionally Discriminates Against Muslims And What To Do About It, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article asks whether Muslims whose religious beliefs prevent investment in their employers’ private pension plans have a right to religious accommodation. This is a real issue for a growing part of the population whose spiritual lives are governed by rules that prohibit the giving or taking of interest. As one might expect, the investments available through most American pension plans involve some aspect of interest making those investments unsuitable retirement vehicles for devote Muslims. Consequently, in order to secure their retirement income, Muslims are faced with either violating their religious beliefs, losing years of investment opportunity as they wait …
Black And Brown Coalition Building During The Post-Racial Obama Era, Karla M. Mckanders
Black And Brown Coalition Building During The Post-Racial Obama Era, Karla M. Mckanders
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This essay explores how the past Civil Rights Movement and discrimination against persons of color, mainly Latinos and African Americans, can help to address current forms of discrimination in our country. In particular, since the election of the first African American President, who also has immigrant parents, many people have claimed that we have reached a “post-racial” America. In the new post-racial America, proponents claim that the pre-Civil Rights Movement racial caste system of the sixties has been eradicated. In this context, this essay seeks to explore whether there is any link between the past experiences of African Americans with …
Sustaining Tiered Personhood: Jim Crow And Anti-Immigrant Laws, Karla M. Mckanders
Sustaining Tiered Personhood: Jim Crow And Anti-Immigrant Laws, Karla M. Mckanders
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Latino immigrants are moving to areas of the country that have not seen a major influx of immigrants. As a result of this influx, citizens of these formerly homogenous communities have become increasingly critical of federal immigration law. State and local legislatures are responding by passing their own laws targeting immigrants. While many legislators and city council members state that the purpose of the anti-immigrant laws is to restrict illegal immigration where the federal government has failed to do so, opponents claim that the laws are passed to enable discrimination and exclusion of all Latinos, regardless of their immigration status. …
Skin Color Discrimination And Immigrant Pay, Joni Hersch
Skin Color Discrimination And Immigrant Pay, Joni Hersch
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In "Profiling the New Immigrant Worker: The Effects of Skin Color and Height," (Journal of Labor Economics 2008), I present strong evidence of a wage penalty to darker skin color among new legal immigrants to the United States. Immigrants with the lightest skin color earn on average 17 percent higher wages than comparable immigrants with the darkest skin color, taking into account Hispanic ethnicity, race, country of birth, education, English language proficiency, family background, and occupation in the source country. This current paper demonstrates that the penalty to darker skin color is not a spurious consequence of omitted variables bias. …
Capitalism And The Tax System: A Search For Social Justice, Beverly I. Moran
Capitalism And The Tax System: A Search For Social Justice, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
America is a country founded on ideas. The Enlightenment was one set of ideas that attended our birth and one Enlightenment belief as strong today as during the revolution is our faith in capitalism and the protection of private property. Yet, the United States tax system manages to violate fundamental capitalist principles as outlined in the extensive writings of Adam Smith - the father of capitalism. Comparing Smith's vision to the current United States tax system reveals many important inconsistencies, particularly the current penchant for simultaneously taxing wages while exempting (or delaying) taxes on wealth and wealth appreciation. The article …
Race And Wealth Disparity: The Role Of Law And The Legal System, Beverly I. Moran, Stephanie M. Wildman
Race And Wealth Disparity: The Role Of Law And The Legal System, Beverly I. Moran, Stephanie M. Wildman
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Many believe that the legal system has achieved racial neutrality because statutes and regulations do not mention race. They do not view law and the legal system as one way that American society polices race and wealth disparities. Because American law seems removed from race and wealth concerns, legal workers see no place for such considerations in their education or practice.
Although the legal system has aspired to neutrality and equality, racialized wealth inequality has resulted and continues. This article considers the aspiration and shows how equality and neutrality can veil existing wealth inequality. Using examples from judicial decisionmaking and …
Constructing Reality: Social Science And Race Cases, Beverly I. Moran
Constructing Reality: Social Science And Race Cases, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education and Grutter v. Bollinger all demonstrate that law alone is not enough to make social change. Instead, lawyers interested in social change must understand the nature of the societies that they attempt to persuade and the language that leads judges to change their ways of thinking. In the early 21st century, the language of persuasion is often the language of social science.
Is Atkins The Antithesis Or Apotheosis Of Anti-Discrimination Principles? Sorting Out The Groupwide Effects Of Exempting People With Mental Retardation From The Death Penalty, Christopher Slobogin
Is Atkins The Antithesis Or Apotheosis Of Anti-Discrimination Principles? Sorting Out The Groupwide Effects Of Exempting People With Mental Retardation From The Death Penalty, Christopher Slobogin
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In "Atkins v. Virginia", the U.S. Supreme Court held that people with mental retardation may not be executed. z Many advocates for people with disability cheered the decision, because it provides a group of disabled people with protection from the harshest punishment imposed by our society. But other disability advocates were dismayed by "Atkins", not because they are fans of the death penalty, but because they believe that declaring disabled people ineligible for a punishment that is accorded all others denigrates disabled people as something less than human. If people with disability are to be treated equally, these dissenters suggest, …
United States' Trade Policy And The Exportation Of United States' Culture, Beverly I. Moran
United States' Trade Policy And The Exportation Of United States' Culture, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The United States Trade Representative and the policies that he (or she) attempt to impose on our trading partners have the serious and perhaps unintended effect of destroying local culture particularly in the area of film production.
Trapped By A Paradox: Speculations On Why Female Law Professors Find It Hard To Fit Into Law School Cultures, Beverly I. Moran
Trapped By A Paradox: Speculations On Why Female Law Professors Find It Hard To Fit Into Law School Cultures, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Feminist psychologists postulate that women are more people focused than men and therefore less likely to be attracted to rule oriented cultures that do not take into account personal differences and needs. This work postulates that the opposite is true of males and females who are attracted to law school teaching. Instead of rule oriented men and people oriented women, the legal academy is populated by women who believe that rules are meant to protect the weak against the tyranny of the strong and who then find themselves in "female" cultures ruled by men.
Through The Lens Of The Sequence, Ellen Wright Clayton
Through The Lens Of The Sequence, Ellen Wright Clayton
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The completion of the rough draft of the human genome is a scientific feat worthy of celebration. But the media attention that has been devoted to the Human Genome Project demonstrates that most people are not as interested in what the sequence is as in what it means for individuals and for society, for good or for ill. My purpose in writing this essay is to discuss how the project was conducted here in the United States, and some of the implications of knowing the sequence (or more aptly, a sequence).
Homogenized Law: Can The United States Learn From African Mistakes?, Beverly I. Moran
Homogenized Law: Can The United States Learn From African Mistakes?, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
For the last fifty years we have seen an outflow of United States laws to developing countries. This legal outflow has caused problems of enforcement in societies that do not share the values, needs or concerns of the law producing state. Using law reform in Eritrea as a case study, the article asks what will happen in the United States when we become the recipient, rather than the exporter, of maladapted laws that serve the purpose of others instead of serving the unique needs of the United States and its economy.
Bibliography Of Tax Articles In High Prestige Non-Specialized Law Journals: A Comparison Of Australia, Britain, Canada And The United States 1954-2001, Beverly I. Moran
Bibliography Of Tax Articles In High Prestige Non-Specialized Law Journals: A Comparison Of Australia, Britain, Canada And The United States 1954-2001, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The bibliography surveys all tax articles (but not Notes) from 1954 to 2001 in high prestige law journals in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. The bibliography compares number of articles produced in each country and also shows what areas of interest dominate in each market. For example, Canadian journal produce more scholarship on Comparative Taxation while Australian journals are more likely to publish in the area of Evasion and Avoidance.
Setting An Agenda For A Study Of Tax And Black Culture, Beverly I. Moran
Setting An Agenda For A Study Of Tax And Black Culture, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
At present the Internal Revenue Code unthinkingly reflects many aspects of white culture including historical opportunities that whites have received for wealth building and marriage. In order for the federal tax laws to tax fairly all cultures within the purview of taxation must also find their values reflected. The article sets out how the tax laws might begin to incorporate black culture.
Exploring The Mysteries: Can We Ever Know Anything About Race And Tax?, Beverly I. Moran
Exploring The Mysteries: Can We Ever Know Anything About Race And Tax?, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The politics behind tax legislation are explored in order to demonstrate that, rather than being surprising or unexpected, it is easily predictable that federal tax laws would favor whites over blacks.
The Elephant And The Four Blind Men: The Burger Court And Its Federal Tax Decisions, Beverly I. Moran, Daniel M. Schneider
The Elephant And The Four Blind Men: The Burger Court And Its Federal Tax Decisions, Beverly I. Moran, Daniel M. Schneider
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
All the federal tax decisions of the Burger Court are reviewed in order to demonstrate that widely held beliefs about statutory interpretation in tax cases are misleading. For example, although the literature asserts that courts do not distinguish between legislative and interpretive regulations, the Burger Court did give greater deference to legislative regulations. Further, despite some Justices antipathy to legislative history, the Burger Court relied heavily on legislative histories in making its decisions. In addition, the widely held view that the Court eschews tax controversies was found false when compared to other business areas.
A Black Critique Of The Internal Revenue Code, Beverly I. Moran, William Whitford
A Black Critique Of The Internal Revenue Code, Beverly I. Moran, William Whitford
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Using Census data and the Survey of Income Program participation (SIPP), the authors use social science methodology to show that blacks pay more federal income tax than whites at the same income levels.
Women's Rights Litigation In The 1980s: More Of The Same?, Tracey E. George, Lee Epstein
Women's Rights Litigation In The 1980s: More Of The Same?, Tracey E. George, Lee Epstein
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In the September 1983 issue of Judicature,Karen O'Connor and Lee Epstein published the results of their examination of the fate of gender-based cases in the U.S. Supreme Court during the 1970s. Overall, they found that the justices were quite receptive to such claims, supporting the women's rights position in about 58 percent of the 63 disputes resolved between the 1969 and 1980 terms.
Quantum Leap: A Black Woman Uses Legal Education To Obtain Her Honorary White Pass, Beverly I. Moran
Quantum Leap: A Black Woman Uses Legal Education To Obtain Her Honorary White Pass, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The nature of privilege is that it is hidden from those who possess it even more than it is hidden from those who lack privilege. Privilege's invisibility to its owner makes privilege difficult to both identify and fight.
Minority Law Teachers Conference, Beverly I. Moran
Minority Law Teachers Conference, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The 1990 Minority Law Teachers Conference was dedicated to expanding the number of minorities in law teaching. To this end, the volume addresses a wide variety of concerns for new and veteran teachers including: teaching, scholarship, service, diversity and recruitment. The volume remains one of the most comprehensive statements of minority law professors about their role in the academy.