Women Underrepresented in Ranks of Top Law Review Editors
A new study suggests that women may encounter a glass ceiling that is keeping them out of the top job at law reviews.
The study by Ms. JD found that women are well represented on law reviews in the lower ranks, making up 44 percent of law review staffers and 46 percent of those in leadership, according to stories in the National Law Journal and Above the Law. But only 33 percent of editors-in-chief are female.
Ms. JD executive director Jessie Kornberg told the National Law Journal that the 46 percent of women in leadership positions is about the same as the percentage of women graduating from law school during the survey period. But she is troubled by the few women in the top job.
“There is obviously some lingering glass ceiling when it comes to the highly coveted editor-in-chief position,” Kornberg wrote at Ms. JD. “There is an adequate pipeline of women on law review staff to achieve better parity here. Some other force is at work.”
The study (PDF) covered the academic years 2008 through 2010 at the law schools ranked in the top 50 by U.S. News & World Report.
