Snapshots on Diversity in the Legal Academy

This article presents a set of snapshots of diversity in the legal academy in response to the call by Steven Vaughan (in The state of the nation: diversity and the British legal academy’ (2016) 50(2) The Law Teacher 255) for greater engagement with, and discussion of, the challenges of diversity within the legal academy. Given the pending anniversaries and historic landmarks, the focus is on the gender balance of students, staff and leadership, the nationality of students and staff (in light of Brexit) and a short note on the place of law within academic institutions (in light of the radical changes proposed by the regulatory body for qualification as a solicitor) which is cross-tabulated with the data on law school leadership and gender. It also references other areas of equality. Further studies of diversity in legal academia are forthcoming but this piece provides a timely contribution. Keywords diversity; equality