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Two matters concerning legal education have recently come front and center. A student was selected to speak at the graduation ceremony at CUNY. She used the time to deliver a racist, anti-Semitic screed. And now Chesa Boudin has been hired at what used to be Boalt Hall at UC Berkeley to lead a new program focusing on criminal justice reform.
Will these two incidents impact hiring decisions by law firms. Are these two schools properly focused on preparing their students to compete in the legal services market?
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I don’t pretend any special insights. So this is just my personal opinion based upon my experiences at three AmLaw 100 firms and one AmLaw 200 firm (that gets the lion’s share of lawyers from UMichigan).
- Law firms, in general, are to the left of the political spectrum. At the same time, they are highly risk-averse. So the student who spoke at CUNY will not be hired — in any event, that person is likely headed to a non-profit, perhaps the ACLU.
- My sense is that law firms don’t focus much on the acts of individuals — who are unlikely to end up in law firms, in any event. They are more likely to work with law schools that show a strong interest in and sense for the real world. Last time I looked — and it was a few years ago — Stanford’s Law School had over 20 interesting and innovative real world programs, projects, initiatives, boards and the like. Law firms tend to favor law students who have something to offer their clients besides strong legal skills.
- Chesa Boudin is an oddball sideshow, and there’s a fair number of those in the legal profession. Remember, Boudin was a smart man, a Yale Law grad, and Rhodes Scholar, but was a lifelong Marxist. Shortly after he won the elction, he had a 71% disapproval rate (53% strongly disapproving). Essentially, San Francisco was lawless under his watch. His first official act was to fire seven prosecutors who deigned to do their jobs. He wouldn’t hook on with a regular firm in any event. The fact that he reached power at all reflects SF’s electorate, not the law firms.
- His reign of terror as District Attorney can only be described as a shit show. It was much, much worse than most people understand. A very interesting separate question is the deterioration of San Francisco and its likely result.
- All of the firms I’ve been employed by have a high percentage of Jewish lawyers. They are appropriately sensitive to anti-Semitism. My current firm was founded because the founders couldn’t get jobs with the firms of the day who had anti-Semitic policies.
Incidentally, some of the most conservative people — and lawyers — I know matriculated at UC-Berkeley. They shrug their collective shoulders at UCB’s leftist overreaches.
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Audaces fortuna iuvat
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BTW, it’s not just Harvard and Berkeley…it’s Penn State, too.
Audaces fortuna iuvat
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Along these lines, you may be familiar with Stanford’s Associate Dean for DEI, Tirien Steinbach, who defended the actions of protesters who shouted down a conservative Fifth Circuit Court judge and speaker at a Stanford Law School function on March 9, 2023. Steinbach also publicly advised the visiting judge not to speak.
Judge Duncan event at Stanford on Vimeo
In response, Dean Martinez penned this missive on free speech and protesting:
Dean Martinez: Next Steps on Protests and Free Speech – Stanford Law School
Steinbach was suspended, and today was relieved of her responsibilities.
Alex Morey on Twitter: “Stanford Law announces Tirien Steinbach will leave her post, months after she appeared to facilitate a shoutdown of a 5th Circuit judge, leading Stanford to overhaul its free speech practices. https://t.co/WkOIFpDEgx” / Twitter
Incidentally, some Stanford students and administrators were forced to go through free speech training.
Audaces fortuna iuvat
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