A. R. Fiano
Syracuse University
2L

    I had originally planned a couple of articles regarding important national topics— the rise of the ‘new federalism’ by the Supreme Court, constructively limiting legal remedies with regards to citizens and states, DNA profiling, and AIDS law. But a casual discussion of law school experiences led me to realize that even before we get out of school to practice legal work in such subjects, there is a bigger concern hovering over law school, not to mention the legal profession. I began running across disturbing accounts of sexism, racism and other forms of discrimination still being extant in law school. I decided to investigate further for the reason that if the preparatory process is tainted by discrimination, the prospects for employment would be similarly so tainted, a ‘chilling effect’ on our careers before we even graduate. It will be rather hard to change the workings of the system for the better if those who are trained to work in the system are getting or receiving messages of gender/race/national origin, etc. superiority.

    The very fact that on some campuses there are organizations directed at ‘NonTraditional’ students (as opposed to, say, just ‘students’) shows the semiotics of what is expected of a law school, and what the image and heuristic is of an attorney is in the general public’s mind, no matter how many diverse and happy photos abound of multicultural utopia law schools.

    To use gender as a focus for this article, we already know that salaries are still disparate between men and women, despite the equal numbers in the workforceⁱ. Women’s wages, weekly, are 76% that of men’s.ⁱⁱ The top twenty professions for women do not even include law.ⁱⁱⁱ Women’s professions are clustered into the service industry and ‘traditionally’ female jobs-sales clerks, secretarial, nursing, bookkeepers ^iv".

    The media is quick, as always, to reassure America that the need for feminism (much less affirmative action) is over, as those darn plucky women are making their way into the boardroom and entrepreneurship, based on a few success stories. The reality of women in the business world is that we are still faced with the glass ceiling. Job segregation (women being forced into support type jobs with little advancement opportunities) and the old boy network still are in force to prevent much female progression to positions of power. Attitudes reinforcing the old boy network are still in place, resulting in male corporate leaders hiring and promoting those who reflect their own ideals and attitudes, which means more male corporate leaders. Women do not often even get past the first hurdle of even being considered, when school ties are criteria for hiring, and the school ties are gender separated. If the school atmosphere is encouraging of gender (not to mention racial, age, religious etc.) group separatism, it will logically follow those males in power will continue to hire their school buddies for the good jobs, who are also males.^v

    The portrayal of female attorneys in popular culture do not reflect real life. Women do not complain of having to balance their work, unruly and love-life troubles, (those that are assumed not to be problem in a man’s life but are always a staple of women’s stories) but of the simple fact being treated differently or for the worse because of their gender^vi.

    What does this mean for law students? The old boy network begins here in law school. The occasions of hostility of the ‘traditional’ students towards those not reflective of themselves, and the subtle nod of approval toward such traditional students (in class participation) makes an already stressful competitive experience doubly so. Some wonder why women and other non-trads are drawn to social justice work. Two obvious reasons— one, we’ve often experienced injustice or seen it in action, so we have some sympathy and commitment; two, it’s one of the few avenues (due to it’s low income status as compared to corporate law) that provide an expanded career opportunity base for non-trads, as opposed to the difficulties of corporate law or other law avenues holding fast to the status quo.

    Take a moment to reflect on what a male law student must consider regarding his career. For every issue that he thinks of as a concern (i.e., contacts, grades, extracurricular activities, bar exam) women have to add to that these other caveats: and how will they treat me, being a woman (and/or a woman of color, foreign origin, disabled, older, etc.) This is not a choice of thought, this is a reality. I was raised under the aegis that I should not demand or ask for equality, but simply assume myself equal. This has led to me dealing with people not under auspices of woman to man, white to black, etc., but person to person. While an ideal notion, it leads to the occasional slap in the face when confronted with someone’s refusal to deal with me (or others) on that human level. Not only is that refusal a waste of time and efficiency, but it also impedes what should be by rights a satisfying career.

    According to an ABA Journal report, that old wheeze about having to work twice as hard to be half as respected still holds with female lawyers, particularly minority women.^vii Lack of mentors, role models and assignment opportunities due to the status quo in place increase the struggle, and one can imagine what added obstacles are in place for older women.^viii About one-quarter of female lawyers have experienced lower salaries/benefits and restricted opportunities (choice of assignments, clients).^ix

    Research has suggested the simple factor (in sociology it’s called social identity theory) of those in power feeling more comfortable with others who are like them (i.e. white males feeling more comfortable working with white males) and reinforcing that behavior. This factor contributes to discouragement of females and minorities, from socializing opportunities to promotions. And this is aside from other nationwide problems with family leave or part-time work?^x There are also certain attitudes in place about whether female lawyers are aggressive enough to work effectively in increasingly harsh billable hour-ruled law firms. Differing approaches to law (inclusion, cooperation, less of a winner take all game) are not encouraged, and are seen as weaknesses.^xi

    While huge accomplishments have taken place in the area of discrimination law, and while law is far more welcoming to women than many other traditionally male professions, changes still need to be made from the preparatory process. Until we are able to feel comfortable accepting other genders, races, ages, etc. as equals and be willing to extend to them the same opportunities we would to those who are just like ourselves, the stumbling blocks in the professional world will endure.

    Hostility is still directed toward women in law school, including sexual harassment, disparate treatment by professors, and lack of respect for female law professors?" The hostility is subtle and not always something that can be outright evidence to be submitted for remedy. It may be a damper on classroom participation (more approval of male answers, more male students being called upon) or an obvious attitude by students (isolation, laughter, argument)!^xiii Gender is not the only basis for these attitudes. Other non-trad students are having their studies hampered by subtle and outright discrimination. A continuing project of this journal will concern researching the attitudes toward non-traditional students in law school today. We would like to find out more about what kind of chilling effect is taking place in law school, as it affects us all in the real world. Future studies will hopefully involve surveys of students, faculty and professionals across the country to find out on a personal level what some are experiencing in addition to trying to learn their bar courses.

A.R. Fiano is a second year law student at Syracuse University Law School, a Religious Studies Master’s Degree Candidate also at SU, Editor of the NYJCLCL, and treasurer of the Syracuse University chapter of the ACLU.

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