Discrimination in Our Midst: Law School\u27s Potential Liability for Employment Practices

Studies and articles examining tenured, tenure-track and contract faculty in law schools have exposed the inequalities that women face when compared with their male counterparts. This article asks the legal academic community to consider these conditions in light of established Title VII doctrine which forbids discrimination because of sex. This article offers a hypothetical about the fictitious National Law School, whose labor relationships mimic those of many real law schools in a number of ways. Based on the facts in this hypothetical, the article explores different possible causes of action, either systemic or individual, that employees could reasonably win against the National Law School. This article concludes that many, if not most, law schools operate a segregated system that may expose them to liability for sex discrimination under Title VII. It proposes that law schools eliminate illegal structures, practices and relationships. This response is practical and ethical. Besides avoiding potential liability, it permits law schools to fulfill their responsibility to their employees, their students, lawyers and the community at large to create legal and ethical egalitarian models of employment within the law schools