Late-night viewers of TV ads knew all about Smilin’ Bob. Dressed in his everyday business outfit of a crease-proof shirt and drab tie, Smilin’ Bob would prance about the office, entertaining foreign executives or posing as Santa during the company’s holiday party. And while a cheesy tune played through the…
George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr and Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology, ponder how far the government can go in reading your email. Their essays can be found in Patriots Debate: Contemporary Issues in National Security Law, a book published by the ABA…
On the Internet, the saying goes, nobody knows you’re a dog—unless, of course, they see your picture online and forward it to their friends. If you’ve been arrested they might know that, too, thanks to webpages that pull booking information from law enforcement sites and republish it. The sites, most…
Everything from Internet poker to slots on your iPhone is on the table now after a legal opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice that toppled the main federal obstacle to online gambling. The opinion, released to scant media coverage Dec. 23, got the attention of state lotteries, casino operators…
John, a senior associate at a regional law firm, read the recruiter’s email a second time, still in disbelief.
An experienced litigator, John (who asked not to be identified out of concern for future job prospects) graduated in the top 10 percent of his law school class in 2006 with a resumé that boasted the brass rings of law review and moot court, where he won numerous awards. His undergraduate GPA was equally stellar, and in the past six years he’d run numerous litigation matters. His annual billed hours remained in the top 5 percent of his firm.
Yet, according to the message, his legal career hinged on a single factor: the name of his second-tier law school.
“We don’t typically recruit from [school X],” the recruiter wrote, noting that John’s pre-law-school professional background would be the sole reason the firm might reconsider in the future. “We’ll pass.”
John’s experience is far from isolated. Decades after graduation, elite law school degrees continue to open doors closed to graduates of less-favored schools. Prestige drives a huge proportion of law firm hiring, judicial clerkships, and coveted positions at the U.S. Department of Justice and within the legal academy.
A few minutes into a lecture on Islamic extremism, counterterrorism instructor William Gawthrop lifts a sheet of paper and asks the class to imagine iron filings on top and a powerful magnet underneath. “As you move the magnet … you see the iron filings move back and forth,” Gawthrop told…
Gordon Lederman, chief counsel for national security and investigations of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Kate Martin, director of the nonprofit Center for National Security Studies, ponder how we should weigh security against liberty. Their essays are part of a forthcoming book, Patriots Debate: Contemporary…
In Monopoly, a roll of the dice can get you a chance to draw a “get out of jail free” card to keep your piece moving around the board. But in the game of life, it takes real money to get out and stay out of real jails. The lesson…
The Occupy movement entered public consciousness—and public space—in September 2011, when protesters took over Zuccotti Park in New York City’s financial district. Since then, Occupy groups have formed across the United States, protesting social and financial inequalities, excessive corporate influence on government and overall income disparities. Protesters actually occupied government…
On the TV show Face the Nation in December, host Bob Schieffer asked Newt Gingrich how he would resolve his beef with so-called activist judges, including one in Texas who blocked prayer at a public school. The former House speaker responded that he would instruct U.S. marshals to arrest judges…
