The Future of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Law Schools: What is the Pipeline of Legal Professionals in the Wake of Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC/Harvard?

CLE Materials

Twenty years after upholding race-conscious admissions programs in colleges and universities, the Supreme Court of the United States changed course last month.  In Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC/Harvard, the Court ruled that the consideration of race, as one factor among many in a holistic college admissions process, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Where does this leave law schools?  Along with colleges and universities, law schools serve as not only pipelines to the legal profession, but incubators for the future leaders of the Nation.

As detailed in A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law 2.0: Identity and Action in Challenging Times (Portrait Project 2.0) published by the American Bar Foundation and NAPABA, we know that though the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community has seen progress in some areas, underrepresentation of our community in the top ranks of the legal profession persists. Portrait Project 2.0, along with NAPABA’s amicus brief with the Court, highlighted the continuing need to advance diversity efforts in the legal profession, where the AANHPI community, along with all communities of color, struggle to achieve success.

For this webinar, NAPABA brings together a panel of educational leaders to discuss the aftermath of UNC/Harvard.  Among other items, the panel will explore the impact on pipeline and the legal profession's efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, and how law schools may draw on experiences in California and Michigan after those states, respectively, enacted bans on race-conscious admissions.

Join us for a timely and thought-provoking discussion on the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the pipelines of the legal profession.

NAPABA did not seek CLE for this program; however, this live webcast may be eligible for CLE credit in your jurisdiction. Please follow-up directly with your jurisdiction in order to self-apply for CLE credit.

Panelists

Rahat N. Babar, NAPABA (Moderator) — Rahat N. Babar is NAPABA’s Deputy Executive Director for Policy. In this role, Rahat leads strategies and programs that advance NAPABA’s advocacy, civil rights, and policy priorities.

Rahat’s commitment to public service and to the Asian Pacific American community has long defined his career.  Nominated by the Governor of New Jersey and unanimously confirmed by the New Jersey Senate, Rahat served as a Judge on the Superior Court of New Jersey, the first Bangladeshi American to be a member of the court.  Immediately prior to his appointment, Rahat was Special Counsel to New Jersey Governor Philip D. Murphy, overseeing all high-profile litigation impacting the Governor and the Administration.  Previously, he was the Director of Community Engagement at the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, where as part of Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal’s Executive Leadership Team, he led the Attorney General’s efforts to strengthen the office's relationships with community leaders, faith leaders, and the public.  Rahat held several other leadership roles within the Attorney General’s Office, practiced in a boutique corporate law firm, and taught law and public policy at Temple University Beasley School of Law as an Adjunct Professor.

Rahat is a former member of NAPABA's Board of Governors and a former chair of NAPABA's Civil Rights Committee.  He previously served as President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania and served on the Board of Directors of the Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey.  NAPABA recognized Rahat as one of NAPABA's Best Under 40 in 2018.

Rahat earned his undergraduate degree in International Area Studies from Drexel University and his law degree from Delaware Law School, where he served as an editor of the law review.  During his last year of law school, Rahat externed for Chief Justice Myron T. Steele of the Supreme Court of Delaware, and after law school, Rahat clerked for Judge Renée Cohn Jubleirer of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Paul Chan, General Counsel, University of Maine System, Former NAPABA President (1996-1997) — Paul H. Chan has advised universities and government agencies for over 25 years. He currently serves as the General Counsel for the University of Maine System, where he is responsible for managing the legal affairs of Maine’s seven public universities. Prior to joining UMS, Paul was the Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs at the University of Denver, the oldest private university in the Rocky Mountain West. Early in his career, Paul was an Assistant Attorney General in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office where he represented the Colorado Civil Rights Division, the Department of Labor and Employment, and the Department of Personnel. He later served as the office’s Deputy for Administration.

Paul is a past president of the Colorado Bar Association, where he was the first Asian Pacific American to hold that position in the association’s 125-year history. He is also a past president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Paul graduated from the University of Denver with a degree in English Literature and Secondary Education, and he received his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He speaks often on the use of technology in the legal practice, ethics, diversity, and nonprofit corporate governance.

Leah Chan Grinvald, Dean, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Law School — Dean Grinvald is an internationally recognized intellectual property law scholar, whose research focuses on the enforcement of intellectual property law, and the potential negative impacts of related laws on small businesses and entrepreneurs. Her work has appeared in some of the nation’s leading law journals. Dean Grinvald’s most recent work focuses on the intersection of the “right to repair” and intellectual property law.
Prior to joining the William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV, Dean Grinvald served as associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. Dean Grinvald previously taught courses in Contracts, Copyright, International Intellectual Property, Negotiation, Trademark Law and Trademark Practice at her prior institutions, Suffolk Law and St. Louis University School of Law. 
Before joining academia, Dean Grinvald began her career in the private sector after clerking for The Honorable Frank Sullivan, Jr. (ret) of the Indiana State Supreme Court. She served as the global corporate counsel at TaylorMade Golf Company, and as a corporate associate at two international law firms, Latham & Watkins LLP and at Clifford Chance US LLP in their San Diego offices.  Dean Grinvald received her JD from New York University Law School and a bachelor’s degree from The George Washington University. 

Julian Ku, Interim Dean, Hofstra Law School — Professor Ku's primary research interest is the relationship of international law to constitutional law. He has also conducted academic research on a wide range of topics including international dispute resolution, international criminal law, and China's relationship with international law. He teaches courses such as U.S. constitutional law, U.S. foreign affairs law, transnational law, and international trade and business law. Since 2014, he has served as the faculty director of international programs, overseeing Hofstra Law's study abroad, exchange and LL.M. programs. He has also been selected as the John DeWitt Gregory Research Scholar and as a Hofstra Law Research Fellow. He is a member of the American Law Institute.

 He is the co-author, with John Yoo, of Taming Globalization: International Law, the U.S. Constitution, and the New World Order (Oxford University Press 2012). He also has published more than 40 law review articles, book chapters, symposia contributions, and essays. He has given dozens of academic lectures and workshops at major universities and conferences in the United States, Europe and Asia.

He co-founded the leading international law blog Opinio Juris, which is read daily by thousands worldwide. He is also a contributing editor to Lawfare, a leading blog analyzing national security issues. His essays and op-eds have been published in major news publications such as The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and NYTimes.com. He has been frequently interviewed for television news programs and quoted in print and electronic media. He has also signed or submitted amicus briefs to national and international courts and served as an expert witness in both domestic and international proceedings.

Before joining the Hofstra Law faculty, Professor Ku served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and as an Olin Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Virginia Law School. Professor Ku also practiced as an associate at the New York City law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, specializing in litigation and arbitration arising out of international disputes. He has been a visiting professor at the College of William & Mary Marshall- Wythe School of Law in Williamsburg, Virginia; a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer in Law at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, China; and a Taiwan Fellow at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. He is a member of the New York Bar and a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.

Sudha Setty, Dean, CUNY School of Law — Sudha Setty joined the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law as dean and professor of law on July 1, 2022. She is the first person of South Asian descent to lead a CUNY campus, and is the first woman of South Asian descent to serve as dean of any ABA-accredited law school. Under her leadership, CUNY Law has revived the W. Haywood Burns Chair in Human and Civil Rights, launched the pathbreaking First Impressions Youth Legal Collaborative, created a new Emerging Needs Clinic to serve asylum seekers and other vulnerable New Yorkers, and launched its first strategic planning process in nearly a decade. 

Dean Setty is a nationally recognized scholar in national security and comparative law, writing more than two dozen articles and the monograph, National Security Secrecy: Comparative Effects on Democracy and the Rule of Law (Cambridge 2017). She currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy, and on the New York State Bar Association Task Force on Artificial Intelligence. 
 
From 2018 to 2022, she served as dean of Western New England University School of Law; while on faculty there, she was awarded Professor of the Year three times. Dean Setty started her legal career as a litigation associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell. She earned an A.B. in History (with honors) from Stanford University, and a JD from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.