Women are Law Review Editors at Top 16 Law Schools

Here’s something that’s never happened before: every one of the top 16 law schools in the U.S. has a woman as editor-in-chief of its law review or law journal.

The odds of that happening – based purely on statistics – is approximately one in 100,000, says this source.

And it reflects an amazing turnaround in a short period of time. As recently as seven years ago, women helmed only 29 percent of law journals at the top 50 law schools.

“[I]t wasn’t that long ago, 2012, when studies decried the law of women in exactly these kinds of leaderships roles,” writes Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law. “These editorial positions at top law schools are incredibly competitive. It’s great to see that not only are women going to law schools at record rates, they’re also excelling once they’re there.”

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Top Schools with Female Law Review Editors-in-Chief

Here are the 16 top schools – as ranked by U.S News and World Reports – that have women in charge of their law reviews and law journals:

1. Harvard – Lauren Beck
2. Yale - Ela Leshem
3. Stanford - Nicole Collins
4. Georgetown - Grace Paras
5. Duke – Farrah Bara
6. University of Chicago – Emily Vernon
7. Columbia - Mary Marshall
8. NYU - Maia Cole
9. University of Pennsylvania - Gabriella Ravida
10. University of Virginia – Laura Toulme
11. University of Michigan – Sarah McDonald
12. Northwestern - Annie Prossnitz
13. C. Berkeley – Noor Hasan
14. Cornell – Lauren Kloss
15. UCLA - Alveena Shah
16. University of Texas, Austin - Christina Wu

“The editors gathered last week to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, as well as their collaboration on a special Women & Law publication featuring pieces by top female lawyers,” writes Arianne Cohen for FastCompany. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke at the event, marveling that only one woman worked on Harvard Law Review’s staff when she arrived, back in ‘ancient days’ over 50 years ago.”

Duke Law Journal Women & Law Issue

“The Editors-in-Chief at the flagship law reviews of the top sixteen law schools in the country [are] all—for the first time ever—women,” writes Farrah Bara, editor-in-chief of the Duke Law Journal. “Celebrating in concert with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, the sixteen of us joined forces to publish a series of essays by prominent women in the legal community. Our hope was that these women would share the lessons they learned in pursuit of their prominence and that along the way, we would learn a little more about who we are—and who we hope to become.”

Here are the articles in the Women & Law issue:

• Family, Gender, and Leadership in the Legal Profession – Kerry Abrams
• Motherhood as Misogyny – Jane H. Aiken
• On Power & Indian Country – Maggie Blackhawk
• Reflections of a Lady Lawyer – Lisa Blatt
• The Nerve: Women of Color in the Legal Academy – Khiara M. Bridges
• Inching Toward Equal Dignity – Denise Brogan-Kator
• On Firsts, Feminism, and the Future of the Legal Profession – Risa L. Goluboff
• Carrying on Korematsu: Reflections on My Father’s Legacy – Karen Korematsu
• Reconstituting the Future: An Equality Amendment – Catharine A. MacKinnon, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw
• Law School in a Different Voice – Melissa Murray
• Experience on the Bench – Rebecca R. Pallmeyer
• Kafka’s Court: Seeking Law and Justice at Guantanamo Bay – Alka Pradhan
• A Personal Essay – Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro
• The Nineteenth Amendment: The Catalyst that Opened Courthouse Doors for Women on the Federal Bench – Ann Claire