Media Law

There have been a spate of media articles about legal career issues in the last few weeks, all probably more worthy of discussion at Boalt and on this blog than unlikely predictions of finals topics (it's the second week of classes people! -- sorry Tom, don't mean to single you out). Here's a few:

Justice Scalia seems to have trouble finding qualified female clerks. Right. Here's Linda Greenhouse in the NY Times. And here's Dahlia Lithwick in Slate. And Tony Mauro from the Legal Times, who also notes the lack of ethnic diversity among the clerks.

Boalt alum Stacita shares some thoughts on some recent sociological research (publicized in Forbes) on the successful marriage prospects of "career women". Of course, since about 60% of women over 16 work -- 75% of those full-time -- perhaps the issue discussed should be "successful marriage prospects in the US" more generally.

Over at the WSJ, the Law Blog points out this interesting tidbit:

The Census Bureau’s annual data trove on Americans has revealed that within “legal occupations,” men had a median income of $102,272, but women earned slightly less than half that amount. As a result, according to the findings, law is the field with the widest income disparity between men and women. Here’s the WSJ story.

Karen Mathis, the president of the American Bar Association, offered this explanation: “As with so many other fields, support staff in law tend to be more populated by women than by men, and those numbers bring down the statistical information on women’s earnings.”

She added: “That said, the ABA is aware that there are discrepancies between the earnings of women and men functioning at the same level in the legal profession.” She pointed out that full-time male lawyers were paid a median weekly salary of $1,748 last year, according to the Labor Department. Their female counterparts made $1,354.

And finally, in what is easily the least newsworthy of the articles I've chosen to feature, the NY Times weighs in on the start of a new associate class. Can you believe those kids make so much money? Me neither! Great photo though. Looks like a Fox 20-something law drama promo, a la Aaron Sorkin.

Talk amongst yourselves. Play nice.