The Persistent Gender Disparity in Student Note Publication

Abstract

This Article presents original empirical research documenting a significant gender disparity in student note publication. Examination of the notes published during a ten-year time span in the general-interest law reviews at fifty-two schools-a total of nearly six thousand notes-reveals that women authored approximately forty percent of student notes. At thirteen schools, women authored fewer than thirty-five percent of published student notes. The Article proposes a range of explanations for this disparity, recognizing that the explanation may differ from one school to the next and from one year to the next at the same school. Moreover, the Article argues that the disparity matters: it has negative consequences for women's careers years after graduation from law school. Consequently, the Article concludes by offering some preliminary ideas about what law students, law reviews, and faculty members might do to remedy the gender disparity, and by encouraging stakeholders in the note publication process to continue this conversation within their institutions.