The Dean's Column
Women Constitute Majority of New Law Students
By DEAN ROLAND L. HJORTH
April 16, 2001
The New York Times reported recently (March 26, 2001) that women are expected to constitute a majority of students who will enter law school nationwide this fall. That report may be news in other areas, but it is no news at the University of Washington School of Law. The percentage of women applying to, accepted by, and entering the UW School of Law has exceeded 50 percent in each of the last three years, it will again for the class entering this fall. As an example, in Fall 2000, 53 percent of our applicants were women; 57 percent of those admitted were women; and 58 percent of those admitted were women; and 58 percent of those who entered were women. For the class entering this fall, we received 1,952 applications, of which 51 percent were from women. Of total offers of admission to date, 56 percent have been made to women.
Women also succeed in Law School. In the last three years a majority of graduates in the top ten percent of the class were women. Women were also a majority of the editors of the Washington Law Review (12 out of 25 this year; 16 out of 26 last year; and 14 out of 24 the year before last). Opposed to the suggestions that women are less likely than men to succeed as trial lawyers is the fact that this year three out of four finalists from the UW School of Law who went to the national moot court competition were women.
The increasing presence of women and their achievements in law schools is a remarkable success story. In 1970 less than ten percent of law students were women. The success of women today owes much to the women who entered the legal profession in ever increasing numbers since the 1960s despite substantial obstacles that existed in those years both in law schools and in the legal profession.
There are suggestions, however, that women do not succeed as well as men once they enter the legal profession. The glass ceiling has not yet been broken. For example, 86 percent of law firm partners are still men. Attrition rates among women are higher than among men. As Professor Joan Williams has noted, “most women don’t leave the law: they just go to lower-paid, lower-profile or dead end jobs.” (N.Y. Times, March 28, 2001).
I do not believe law firms consciously discriminate against women. But the practice of law, as presently structured, may place mothers at a disadvantage. Many, perhaps most, women law graduates become mothers. They live in a society that often expects mothers to be the primary nurturers of children. Most may well want that role. Firms that make conscious efforts to give lawyers who are mothers flexibility in their practices would, I think, reap substantial rewards in terms of loyalty and morale from a group who have demonstrated they have a tremendous amount to offer to the legal profession and the orderly development of the law.
Problems of women in the legal profession continue to exist despite the progress that has been made. I am pleased to work with the Law Women’s Caucus to establish a Gender Study Committee that will study the educational experiences of women at the Law School, as well as their experiences in the legal profession. I have received from the Law Women’s Caucus a thoughtful and thorough proposal that I hope to implement shortly. The Gender Study Committee will consist of students, faculty and alumnae and will be supported by the efforts of research assistants. If you have an interest in serving on that committee, please send me an email message (hjorth@u.washinton.edu) describing your interest.
