Posted by on Friday, April 22, 2011
Happy Earth Day! This week’s Dish features a Diverse Issues in Higher Education article on how the struggling economy has impacted recent law school graduates and the LA Times response to the recent controversy surrounding DOMA.
4.21.11 Diverse Issues in Higher Education features an in-depth piece on the lingering impact the weak economy has had on many recent law school graduates. Author Lydia Lum describes law schools’ response to the problem saying, “But amid lingering industry wide uncertainties, officials at some law schools are scrambling to ensure that underrepresented minorities get jobs, especially law schools not customarily tapped by the country’s largest law firms.” Read the full article here.
4.21.11 The House of Representatives decision to hire King & Spalding to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act has created quite the stir among the federal law’s opponents. The Human Rights Campaign has publicly objected to the firm’s decision to help defend the law. However, an LA Times Editorial, Defense of Marriage Act: Attack the law, not the lawyer defends the firm and attorneys involved stating, “It's perhaps understandable that leaders of an advocacy group like the Human Rights Campaign would be outraged at the idea of anyone defending a law that they so strongly believe is discriminatory. But the suggestion that it's shameful for Clement or his firm to do so misunderstands the adversarial process. For one thing, with sharp-witted counsel on both sides making the strongest possible arguments, it is more likely that justice will be done. For another, a lawyer who defends an individual or a law, no matter how unpopular or distasteful, helps ensure that the outcome is viewed as fair. If DOMA is struck down, the fact that it was defended effectively will make the victory for its opponents more credible.”
