Anthony Paik, Professor of Sociology, and Steve Boutcher, Executive Officer of the Law and Society Association and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research, are part of a team that was awarded a $500,000 NSF grant to fund research examining diversity and networking in law school.
Networking is considered a key component of the law school experience. Students are expected to form connections that will lead to success in their studies and career development. However, students from diverse backgrounds – racial minority, multiracial, and international law students – may not have the same level of access to “resource-rich” social networks in law school. This study hopes to collect data and examine the ways networking inequality affects the value of legal education.