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Daily Archives: May 25, 2015

Women and Men of Harvard Law School: Preliminary Results from the HLS Career Study

Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession – Women and Men of Harvard Law School: Preliminary Results from the HLS Career Study, 2015

“Introduction – There is widespread consensus that the legal profession stands at an important inflection point. Traditional models of professional organization, practice, and education are under increasing pressure to adapt to important changes in the environments in which lawyers work. At the same time, these same forces make the profession’s commitment to its traditional ideals of equality and the rule of law more relevant and important than ever. The current status of women in the legal profession mirrors this complex duality. On the one hand, the number of women entering the profession has increased dramatically in recent decades, and women lawyers can now be found in leadership positions in virtually every major legal institution in the country, including three female justices on the United States Supreme Court. And yet, the percentage of women in these top positions remains far below their representation in the profession, even when adjusted for the fact that women did not begin to enter legal practice in significant numbers until the 1970s. To make matters worse, even women who have achieved important career success appear to be leaving their prestigious positions—and the profession as a whole—in alarming numbers. It is against this background that we offer this Preliminary Report on The Women and Men of Harvard Law School . The Preliminary Report presents the results of the Harvard Law School Career Study (HLSCS), conducted by the school’s Center on th e Legal Profession (CLP). Begun with a generous grant from a visionary group of women alumnae in connection with the 55th celebration of the graduation of the school’s first female students in 1953 , the study seeks to deepen the understanding of the career choices made by HLS graduates by providing for the first time systematic empirical information about the careers trajectories of graduates from different points in the school’s history. In this Preliminary Report, we offer a first look at the Study’s findings about the salient similarities and differences between the careers of the school’s female and male graduates.”

  • See also ABA Journal – Think Harvard law grads are more likely to stay in law practice than others? 28% ditched legal jobs and the Washington Post – “From the outside, the legal profession seems to be growing ever more diverse. Three women are now on the Supreme Court. Loretta Lynch is the second African American to hold the position of attorney general. The president and first lady are lawyers of color. Yet according to Bureau of Labor statistics, law is one of the least racially diverse professions in the nation. Eighty-eight percent of lawyers are white. Other careers do better — 81 percent of architects and engineers are white; 78 percent of accountants are white; and 72 percent of physicians and surgeons are white. The legal profession supplies presidents, governors, lawmakers, judges, prosecutors, general counsels, and heads of corporate, government, nonprofit and legal organizations. Its membership needs to be as inclusive as the populations it servess. Part of the problem is a lack of consensus that there is a significant problem. Many lawyers believe that barriers have come down, women and minorities have moved up, and any lingering inequality is a function of different capabilities, commitment and choices.”

Justice Department Releases Drone Privacy Guidance

EPIC – “The Justice Department has released extensive “Policy Guidance” for the use of drones by federal agencies. The Guidance bans the use of drones to monitor activities protected by the First Amendment, requires routine logs of drone use, and requires the protection of civil liberties and privacy in all cases. However, the Guidance “does… Continue Reading

Report – $36M Command Control Facility in Afghanistan: Unwanted, Unneeded, and Unused

SIGAR – Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction May 2015 SIGAR-15-57-SP $36 Million Command and Control Facility at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan: Unwanted, Unneeded, and Unused “SIGAR found that DoD requested funds for this facility on the basis that it was necessary to address an immediate operational need associated with the military surge in Afghanistan in… Continue Reading

SIGAR Quarterly Report to Congress on Afghanistan Reconstruction

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction Quarterly Report to Congress, April 30, 2015 “As a result of a SIGAR investigation that uncovered corruption in the award of a nearly $1 billion, multi-year Afghan Ministry of Defense (MOD) fuel contract, SIGAR has developed a relationship with the new Afghan national-unity government that promises to create unique… Continue Reading

Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google

Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google – A review of James Palfrey’s new book ‘BiblioTech,’ and the culturally critical role libraries play. By Amien Essif / AlterNet – May 11, 2015 “James Palfrey, in his new book BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google, gives some… Continue Reading

Regulatory change and monetary policy

CGFS Papers No 54 Regulatory change and monetary policy – Report submitted by a Working Group established by the Committee on the Global Financial System and the Markets Committee. The Group was chaired by Ulrich Bindseil (European Central Bank) and William R Nelson (Federal Reserve Board). May 2015. “Financial regulation is evolving, as policymakers seek… Continue Reading

The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering

The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering – Mastering Complexity, Sanjoy Mahajan. 2014-09-02. The MIT Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts. London, England. “Science and engineering, our modern ways of understanding and altering the world, are said to be about accuracy and precision. Yet we best masterthe complexity of our world by cultivating insight rather than precision.… Continue Reading

The Library of Congress: Web Archive Collections

Web Archive Collections – Researcher Access to Publicly Available Web Archive Collections is here The following is a list of all web archive collections developed by or in partnership with the Library of Congress. These are in various stages of production. U.S. Election Web Archives U.S. Congressional/Legislative Web Archives Law Library Web Archives Single Sites… Continue Reading