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Article
A Noteworthy Absence
Journal of Legal Education (2009)
  • Nancy Leong
Abstract
This article presents original empirical research documenting a sex-based disparity in the number of student notes published in top law reviews. My research reveals that women authored only 36% of the student notes published in top law reviews over the past three years. Although the degree of the discrepancy varied among schools, women published fewer notes than men at every school. While women were a numerical minority at nearly every school and on every law review, the magnitude of those discrepancies failed to account fully for the sex disparity in note publication. My article therefore discusses other possible causes for the publication disparity, drawing upon an open-ended survey I conducted with the editors of the law reviews I studied. The article then examines the implications of the sex disparity, concluding that the disparity has negative consequences for female law students' post-graduation employment prospects, particularly in academia. Moreover, the sex disparity represents a silencing of women law students' perspectives that has negative consequences both for women's law school experience and for scholarly legal discourse in general. The article thus concludes by offering suggestions for reducing the disparity.
Keywords
  • women,
  • law school,
  • law students,
  • publication,
  • law reviews,
  • student notes,
  • empirical,
  • quantitative
Disciplines
Publication Date
2009
Citation Information
Nancy Leong. "A Noteworthy Absence" Journal of Legal Education Vol. 59 (2009)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nancy_leong/2/