Additional Background on DEI Efforts

The information gathered on this page provides background for SLS Diversity and Inclusion efforts beginning in Winter 2018.

Message from the Working Group Chair

February 26, 2018

I write on behalf of the new SLS Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion. We are an action-oriented group charged with formulating concrete recommendations.  We expect to announce and implement some recommendations on a rolling basis as we work throughout the remainder of winter and spring quarter, as well as reporting back to Dean Magill by graduation.  

The members of the group are myself, Professors Joe Bankman, R. Richard Banks, G. Marcus Cole, Richard Ford, Daniel Ho, Robert Rabin, Jane Schacter, David Sklansky, Norman Spaulding, and Jayashri Srikantiah; Dean Jory Steele; and SLA co-presidents Nick DeFiesta and Alexandria Gilbert.  We plan to select three additional student members. If you wish to apply to be a student member, please submit your application by this Friday, March 2, at 5 p.m.

We want to hear your suggestions. You have several options for how to share them with us. You can submit them online at our online suggestion box. You can sign up for one of the one-hour listening sessions organized by Dean Magill each of which will be joined by at least one member of the Working Group who will share notes with the rest of the group.  In addition, the Working Group will be reaching out to solicit input, including from our many student organizations. You can also just reach out directly to me or other members of the Working Group.  We know you are busy, so rest assured that you do not need to take advantage of all these different ways of sharing your views – just pick the one that works best for you.

Let me share a word about why I have agreed to chair this group. In my view, the goal of this group is to improve the ability of all members of our community – of whatever race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual identity, class, or political ideology – to participate in the life of the school with dignity and equality.  In light of the historical and persistent exclusion of racial and ethnic minorities in our society, the concerns highlighted by students of color in recent weeks come to us with a particular sharpness and urgency that we heed. At the same time, I believe it is possible for us to come up with solutions that will enable students of all backgrounds and perspectives to thrive here.

I love Stanford Law School, and I am proud of the work we do here.  I have tremendous respect for all my colleagues on the faculty and staff.  I have always felt privileged to teach, and learn from, my students. As a teacher, scholar, and lawyer, I am committed to the free and open debate of ideas, and also to the cultivation of empathy and understanding across our many differences.  I do not view these goals as incompatible; indeed, the reconciliation of these two goals is a central task of free and democratic societies under the rule of law. We still have some distance to go, here at SLS and in the world at large, in figuring out how to do that.  The stakes are very high, and we cannot afford to fail. I look forward to working in partnership to take concrete steps to make SLS better for all of us, so that we in turn can use our knowledge and skills to improve our country and our world.

Jenny S. Martinez
Professor of Law, Warren Christopher Professor in the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy

Diversity and Inclusion Working Group Members

Jenny S. Martinez 2

Jenny S. Martinez

  • Provost
  • Professor of Law
  • Frederick Emmons Terman Professorship
  • Senior Fellow, by courtesy, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Daniel E. Ho 4

Daniel E. Ho

  • William Benjamin Scott and Luna M. Scott Professor of Law
  • Professor of Political Science
  • Professor of Computer Science (by courtesy)
  • Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)
  • Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic and Policy Research
  • Director of the Regulation, Evaluation, and Governance Lab (RegLab)

Fares Akremi

Class of 2018
JD Student

Avi Bakshani

Class of 2019
JD Student

Nicolas Defiesta

Class of 2019
JD Student

Alina Christine Gansen

Class of 2018
LLM CGP Student

Alexandria Gilbert

Class of 2018
JD Student

Biola Macaulay

Class of 2019
JD Student

Erica Miranda

Class of 2018
JD Student

Law and Policy Lab Practicum: Diversity and Inclusion in Legal Education

In this policy practicum, students had the opportunity to work with the Stanford Law School Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion to research and develop a wide range of policy initiatives on these and related issues. The goal was not only to study and recommend adoption of best practices but also to explore and innovate new practices.

Diversity and Inclusion in Legal Education

Speaker Series

The law school sponsored a series of speakers to present current interdisciplinary research on the social science of identity and prejudice. The first speaker was Professor Claude Steele, who spoke in Spring 2018. In fall quarter 2018, SLS hosted four additional social scientists to speak about related issues. Lectures were open to the community. Each lecture included a faculty and student facilitator/commentator. Students were given the option of attending all lectures, writing reflection papers on the lectures, and receiving a unit of mandatory pass/fail credit by enrolling in the corresponding class, Social Science of Identity and Prejudice.