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Integrating DEI Concepts into the Law School Classroom

This short bibliography is a compilation of books, articles and other resources on integrating DEI concepts into the law school classroom

Articles - Pedagogy Focused

Doron Samuel-Siegel, Reckoning with Structural Racism in Legal Education: Methods Toward a Pedagogy of Antiracism, 29 Cardozo L. Equal Rts. & Soc. Just. 1 (2022). 

This article identifies barriers to a pedagogy of anti-racism and describes strategies for overcoming these barriers. These strategies include concrete steps legal educators of all experience levels may pursue to put this pedagogy into practice. 

Catherine Bramble & Rory D. Bahadur, Actively Achieving Greater Racial Equity in the Law School Classroom, 70 Cleveland St. L. Rev. 709 (2022). 

In this article the authors assert that replacing the Socratic method with active learning models, not only improves overall student learning, but is particularly efficacious in decreasing achievement gaps for students from disadvantage backgrounds. The article details the advantages of active learning versus passive learning and explains why active learning results in greater equity in the law school classroom. 

Lisa Bliss, Susan L. Brooks, & Chaumtoli Huq, Creating Online Education Spaces to Support Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Wellbeing, 14 J. Marshall L.J. 1 (2021). 

"This article identifies approaches, strategies, and tools law teachers can use to promote equity, inclusion, belonging, and wellbeing for all learners in their classrooms, especially students from historically marginalized groups." Special focus on online courses. 

David A. Hoffman, Teaching Diversity at Harvard Law School: Or: The Education of a Straight, White, Cisgender, Male, Able-Bodied, Upper-Middle-Class Lecturer on Law, 27 Dispute Resolution Magazine 24 (2021).

Synopsis: Harvard Law lecturer discusses his experiences designing a course on DEI despite the topic being outside his experience as a “straight, white, cisgender, male, able-bodied, upper-middle-class lecturer.”

Natasha Aggarwal, Learning Diversity at Harvard Law School: Or: The Education of a Privileged Law Student Who Thought She Knew Everything, 27 Dispute Resolution Magazine 29 (2021).

Synopsis: Harvard Law School student describes her experience taking the course "Diversity and Dispute Resolution" discussed in the David A. Hoffman article above.

Anna P. Hemingway, Intentionally and Systematically Integrating Diversity Discussions and Lessons in the Law School Classroom During a Race-Conscious Era, 73 Rutgers U. L. Rev. 33 (2020). 

Through the lens of the U.S. Supreme Court's diversity in higher education jurisprudence, author Anna Hemingway explains the importance of and methodologies for incorporating lessons on diversity in traditional law school courses. 

Alexi Nunn Freeman & Lindsey Webb, Positive Disruption: Addressing Race in a Time of Social Change through a Team-Taught, Reflection-Based, Outward-Looking Law School Seminar, 21 U. PA. J.L. & Soc. Change 121 (2018).

This Article contributes to the literature addressing the inclusion of race in the law school curriculum by providing an analysis of one race focused course, the Critical Race Reading Seminar (CRRS), developed and taught by a group of professors at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. This uniquely co-taught seminar uses non-fiction books rather than legal texts and embraces assessments that are grounded in the students' reflections.