A study of the experiences of women of color law school faculty and the effect of race and gender on legal education. This book is the first formal, empirical investigation into the law faculty experience using a distinctly intersectional lens, examining both the personal and professional lives of law faculty members. Comparing the professional and personal experiences of women of color professors with white women, white men, and men of color faculty from assistant professor through dean emeritus, Unequal Profession explores how the race and gender of individual legal academics affects not only their individual and collective experience, but also legal education as a whole. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative empirical data, Meera E. Deo reveals how race and gender intersect to create profound implications for women of color law faculty members, presenting unique challenges as well as opportunities to improve educational and professional outcomes in legal education. Deo shares the powerful stories of law faculty who find themselves confronting intersectional discrimination and implicit bias in the form of silencing, mansplaining, and the presumption of incompetence, to name a few. Through hiring, teaching, colleague interaction, and tenure and promotion, Deo brings the experiences of diverse faculty to life and proposes several mechanisms to increase diversity within legal academia and to improve the experience of all faculty members. Praise for Unequal Profession “Fascinating, shocking, and infuriating, Meera Deo’s careful qualitative research exposes the institutional practices and cultural norms that maintain a separate and unequal race-gender order even within the privileged ranks of tenure-track law professors. With riveting quotes from faculty across a range of institutional and social positions, Unequal Profession powerfully reminds us that we must do better. I saw my own career in this book—and you might, too.” —Angela P. Harris, University of California, Davis “A powerful account of inequality in legal academia. Quantitative data and compelling narratives bring to life the challenges and roadblocks in gaining not just entry and tenure but also respect for the voices of minority women within the academy. There are no easy remedies, but reading this book is a good place to start for lawyers and law professors to understand what minority women face and which practices can increase the odds of success.” —Bryant G. Garth, University of California, Irvine “Unequal Profession should be mandatory reading for everyone in legal academia . . . . By providing concrete evidence of systemic discrimination, Meera Deo illuminates a long-standing problem needing to be remedied.” —Sarah Deer, University of Kansas

This book had its beginnings in a simple question: How have some African-American attorneys, recently admitted to the bar, successfully navigated what research suggests is a very precarious pipeline to the legal profession? The response to this question entailed a journey that spanned some three years, over fifty informants, and a dozen or so researchers and scholars who study the intersections of education, race, and efforts to achieve social equity. The resulting work generalizes from the stories collected and constructs a substantive theory of success built around a phenomenon called "working recognition." This concept describes both the recognition experienced in various forms by our study's participants and the recognition they transformed into strategic activities aimed at overcoming academic, economic, and social obstacles encountered in their personal pipelines. We found that it was through such activity that they ultimately attained recognition as lawyers and entered the profession of law. As a way of situating the study within scholarship in higher and legal education, the book further presents essays from noted scholars who respond to the study's thematic findings comparing and contrasting them to related research and practices. Finally, we consider the policy implications that derive from our extant project, particularly policies that relate to future pipeline interventions. "This is an engaging and well-written book that uses analysis of in-depth interviews to tell the stories not only of African Americans entering the legal profession, but also the story of the significant and important role of HBCUs in educating the current generation of black lawyers. It is a must read for anyone doubting the relevance of the HBCU today."-- Kurt l. Schmoke, Dean, Howard University School of Law "A must read for anyone interested in understanding the very different experiences faced by African-American law students when compared with their white peers. It should be required reading for all law school Deans and University Presidents who should then seek to implement the very thoughtful suggestions discussed by Evensen and Pratt thereby moving law schools in the direction of being inclusive learning environments for all students."-- Dorothy Brown, Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law "Evensen and Pratt's illuminating study tells the stories that all lawyers need to hear. Their chronicles of young African Americans who navigate nearly insurmountable challenges to join our profession provide convincing evidence for the authors' theory of intervention and the necessity of pipeline programs. With its combination of interviews and essays, this is an essential work for anyone who is committed to improving the racial diversity of the legal profession."-- Phoebe Haddon, Dean, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

Tackling the ugly secret of unconscious racism in American society, this book provides specific solutions to counter this entrenched phenomenon.

Argues that treating people and artificial intelligence differently under the law results in unexpected and harmful outcomes for social welfare.

This illuminating Research Handbook analyses the role that emotions play and ought to play in legal reasoning and practice, rejecting the simplistic distinction between reason and emotion.