Secret Handshakes and Other Unspoken Rules Revealed

Two weeks ago SALT collaborated with The John Marshall Law School and Northern Illinois University College of Law to bring to practitioners and recent graduates of color some of the ways to “break into” the legal academy from practice, public interest, and government service. During one of the panels, Rogelio Lasso, commented that back when he was first looking to get a job as a professor, Michael Olivas as the founder of Latino Law Professors, maintained his own list of qualified Latina/Latino attorney-scholars and recent graduates who were ripe to join a law school faculty. Whenever a dean or hiring chair complained that there were no qualified applicants, Michael would pull out his list. Now SALT’s programs, along with LatCrit and the various People of Color conferences, make those secret handshakes and unspoken rules more transparent. The consequence is a slow and steady push towards greater diversity within the faculty ranks of the legal academy.

This past weekend, SALT, along with Seattle University School of Law and its Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law & Equality and University of Washington School of Law, presented the third biennial “Promoting Diversity in Law School Leadership” workshop, hosted at Seattle University School of Law. An enormous thank you goes out to Robert S. Chang, associate dean for research and faculty development and executive director of the Korematsu Center for his extraordinary efforts to plan this workshop, recruit the panelists, and ensure that the discourse was subtle, complex, and helpful to candidates, new deans, and those serving on dean search committees.

AALS Proposes Fee Rise for Member Schools–A SALT Member Voices His Concerns

The Executive Committee (EC) of the Association of American Law Schools sent a memorandum to Deans of Member Schools dated August 22, 2011, announcing that the EC had adopted a dues increase of 3.5% for member schools for calendar year 2012, by amending EC Regulation 3.1, which specifies the amount of annual dues. Under the AALS By-Laws, this dues increase goes into effect unless objection is received from at least ten member schools within 60 days of the mailing of the regulation. A copy of the memorandum was also mailed to all members of the AALS House of Representatives. I received a copy of the memorandum as the NYLS Representative.

After reading the memorandum and looking at the financial information attached to it, I recommended to my Dean that NYLS file an objection. I want to share my reactions with fellow SALT members.