Feb 7, 2020 - Politics & Policy

All top law school journals are led by women for the first time in history

Rashaan Ayesh

Grace Paras (left) was the editor in chief of the Georgetown Law Journal and Toni Deane (right) is the first African American to lead the publication. Photo: Astrid Riecken/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The editors in chief of law journals at the top 16 law schools in the U.S. are women for the first time in history, the Washington Post reports.

The state of play: At an event honoring the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote that brought all of the editors together, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "It's such a contrast to the ancient days when I was in law school. There really is no better time for women to enter the legal profession."

  • A woman was not elected to lead the law journal at Harvard Law School, Ginsburg's alma mater, until 20 years after she first arrived on campus.
  • The slate of female editors celebrated their historical accomplishment by putting together a Women & Law Journal that contains essays from female lawyers.

Worth noting, via the Post: Women still only make up less than a quarter of law firm equity partners, a quarter of tenured and tenure-track law professors and about a third of active federal district and appeals court judges.

  • And only four women have ever served on the Supreme Court.

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