About
This guide is an ongoing work in progress that serves as a home for critical legal information literacy resources. It also serves as a resource for librarians, faculty, students, and the broader community looking for critical perspectives on the law.
Each page on the guide has the following:
- Definitions to consider when researching in the particular area;
- Databases that may be useful when researching;
- Multimedia (documentaries, recorded scholarly panel discussions, etc.) addressing the topic;
- Books and scholarly articles available through the Cornell catalog; and
- Scholarly journals to consult when researching.
Have feedback on this guide or know of a resource that should be included? Fill out this form to let our librarians know.
Useful Definitions
- Critical Pedagogy: Education and pedagogical practices focused on raising critical consciousness through social critique, political action, and self actualization. See: Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968).
- DEI: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
- Diversity: Similarities and differences of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, age, ability, and culture.
- Equity: Shifting power dynamics to achieve outcomes free from bias, discrimination and prejudice. See: Keren Dali and Nadia Caidi, Diversity by design. The Library Quarterly 87.2 (2017): 88-98.
- Inclusion: The act or practice of including and accommodating people who have historically been excluded (as because of their race, gender, sexuality, or ability) [Merriam Webster: "inclusion"]
- Implicit Bias: A bias or prejudice that is present but not consciously held or recognized. [Merriam Webster: "implicit bias"] See: Project Implicit -- Implicit Bias Association Test (IAT).
- Micro Aggression: A comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority). [Merriam Webster: "microaggression"] See: Shamika D. Dalton, Gail Mathapo & Endia Sowers-Paige, Diversity Dialogues: Navigating Law Librarianship While Black: A Week in the Life of a Black Female Law Librarian, 110 LAW LIBR. J. 429 (2018).
Podcasts
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Intersectionality Matters!Intersectionality Matters! is a podcast hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory.
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NPR: Code SwitchRemember when folks used to talk about being "post-racial"? Well, we're definitely not that. We're a multi-racial, multi-generational team of journalists fascinated by the overlapping themes of race, ethnicity and culture, how they play out in our lives and communities, and how all of this is shifting.
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NYT: 1619An audio series on how slavery has transformed America, connecting past and present through the oldest form of storytelling.
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NYT: Still ProcessingWesley Morris and Jenna Wortham are working it out in this weekly show about culture in the broadest sense. That means television, film, books, music — but also the culture of work, dating, the internet and how those all fit together.
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Pod Save the PeopleOrganizer and activist DeRay Mckesson explores news, culture, social justice, and politics with analysis from Sam Sinyangwe, Kaya Henderson, and De’Ara Balenger. Then he sits down for deep conversations with experts, influencers, and diverse local and national leaders. New episodes every Tuesday.
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Strict Scrutiny PodcastA podcast by three women about the Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds it.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession
- American Bar Association
- Visible Invisibility: Women of Color in Law Firms (2006)
- Left Out and Left Behind: The Hurdles, Hassles, and Heartaches of Achieving Long-Term Legal Careers for Women of Color (2020)
- ABA Profile of the Legal Profession (2020)
- How Unappealing An Empirical Analysis of the Gender Gap among Appellate Attorneys (2021)
- Whitney Woodington, The Cognitive Foundations of Formal Equality: Incorporating Gender Schema Theory to Eliminate Sex Discrimination Towards Women in the Legal Profession, 34 LAW & PSYCHOL. REV. 135 (2010).
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Critical Race Theory by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9781565842717Publication Date: 1996-05-01The foundational work on Critical Race Theory--now under fire from the Trump administration Why did the president of the United States, in the midst of a pandemic and an economic crisis, take it upon himself to attack Critical Race Theory? Perhaps Donald Trump appreciated the power of this groundbreaking intellectual movement to change the world. In recent years, Critical Race Theory has vaulted out of the academy and into courtrooms, newsrooms, and onto the streets. And no wonder: as intersectionality theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw recently told Time magazine, "It's an approach to grappling with a history of white supremacy that rejects the belief that what's in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it." The panicked denunciations from the right notwithstanding, CRT has changed the way millions of people interpret our troubled world. -
The End of the Pipeline: A Journey of Recognition for African Americans Entering the Legal Profession by Call Number: Law Library (Myron Taylor Hall) KF299.A35 E94x 2012ISBN: 9781594609817Publication Date: 2011-11-01 -
How Lawyers Lose Their Way byCall Number: OnlineISBN: 9780822334545Publication Date: 2005-01-13In this penetrating book, Jean Stefancic and Richard Delgado use historical investigation and critical analysis to diagnose the cause of the pervasive unhappiness among practicing lawyers. Most previous writers have blamed the high rate of burnout, depression, divorce, and drug and alcohol dependency among these highly paid professionals on the narrow specialization, long hours, and intense pressures of modern legal practice. Stefancic and Delgado argue that these professional demands are only symptoms of a deeper problem: the way lawyers are taught to think and reason. They show how legal education and practice have been rendered arid and dull by formalism, a way of thinking that values precedent and doctrine above all, exalting consistency over ambiguity, rationality over emotion, and rules over social context and narrative.
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Judge Thelton Henderson by Call Number: Law Library (Myron Taylor Hall) KF373.H464 K84 2017ISBN: 1946074004Publication Date: 2016-12-19 -
Out and About by Call Number: KF3467.5 .O98 2015ISBN: 1634251288Publication Date: 2016-04-07Out and About: The LGBT Experience In the Legal Profession is intended to address the experiences of LGBT attorneys, academics, and jurists in the legal profession. Through their own words, our authors help educate and promote justice in and through the legal profession for the LGBT community in all its diversity. This book also celebrates LGBT members of the bar by recognizing this diverse group, their contributions, and their struggles. Being an individual, doing your own thing no matter what everyone else is doing, is the heart of the essays that comprise this book. The writers share their experience of at once blending in and yet feeling different, vulnerable, and exposed. They speak of the ever-present potential to be treated differently simply because of who they are, giving these essays deeper meaning. Some of these authors endured secret pain, suffering in private, hiding personal lives from colleagues. Others barely soldiered through, endeavoring just to make the lives of their clients better. And some openly achieved great success, personally, professionally, or both. Each and every one merits attention. Each chapter of this book informs and inspires readers to broaden horizons, opening minds to the vast diversity of LGBT individuals. The book aims to improve the legal profession and the justice system itself by demonstrating the vast potential within all of us. There always have been people who "dance to the beat of a different drummer." The contributors to this collection of essays hope you dance to whatever music suits you! Book jacket. -
Race Law Stories by Call Number: Special Reserve KF4755 .R335x 2008ISBN: 9781599410012Publication Date: 2008-06-04 -
Women, Judging and the Judiciary by Call Number: Law Library (Myron Taylor Hall) KD472.W65 R33 2013ISBN: 9780415548618Publication Date: 2012-09-05Awarded the 2013 Birks Book Prize by the Society of Legal Scholars, Women, Judging and the Judiciary expertly examines debates about gender representation in the judiciary and the importance of judicial diversity. It offers a fresh look at the role of the (woman) judge and the process of judging and provides a new analysis of the assumptions which underpin and constrain debates about why we might want a more diverse judiciary, and how we might get one. -
You Don't Look Like a Lawyer by Call Number: Law Library (Myron Taylor Hall) KF299.A35 M45 2019ISBN: 9781538107928Publication Date: 2019-04-18You Don't Look Like a Lawyer examines the discrimination professional women of color face in the legal profession and the ways in which race and gender impact women's work. Tsedale Melaku looks in depth at the legal profession and discusses how these issues also impact women of color in other fields. Book jacket.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Legal Academia
- Association of American Law Schools: Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse
- Fracisco Valdes, Sexual Minorities in Legal Academia: A Retrospection on Community, Action, Remembrance, and Liberation, 66 J. Legal Educ. 510 (2017).
- Indiana University: Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE)
- Meera E. Deo, Looking Forward to Diversity in Legal Academia, 29 Berkeley J. Gender L. & Just. 352, 371–75 (2014).
- Sarudzayi Matambanadzo and Sheila Velez, Kindling the Programmatic Production of Critical and Outsider Legal Scholarship, 1996-2016, 37 Whittier L. Rev. 439 (2016).
- University of Michigan, Women Also Know Law
- Inspired by and modeled on Women Also Know Stuff, Women Also Know Law offers a searchable database of women and non-binary people who have academic appointments in law (or who are seeking academic appointments in law). The database is publicly available for everyone to use, including conference organizers, syllabi authors, casebook editors, journalists, and whoever may be looking to find someone with academic expertise in law. And our social media feed celebrates the accomplishments, expertise, and knowledge of women in the law.
- Yvonne M. Dutton et al., Advancing Faculty Diversity Through Self-Directed Mentoring, 25 Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy 55-76 (2017).
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Integrating Doctrine and Diversity by Call Number: Law Library (Myron Taylor Hall) In processISBN: 9781531017019Publication Date: 2021-04-27"Drawing upon the experience of faculty from across the country, Integrating Doctrine and Diversity is a collection of essays with practical advice, written by faculty for faculty, on specific ways to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into the law school curriculum. Chapters will focus on subjects traditionally taught in the first-year curriculum (Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Legal Writing, Legal Research, Property, Torts) and each chapter will also include a short annotated bibliography curated by a law librarian. With submissions from over 40 scholars, the collection is the first of its kind to offer reflections, advice and specific instruction on how to integrate issues of diversity and inclusions into first-year doctrinal courses"-- -
Presumed Incompetent by Call Number: Olin Library Oversize LB2332.3 .P74 2012ISBN: 9780874218695Publication Date: 2012-09-21Presumed Incompetent is a pathbreaking account of the intersecting roles of race, gender, and class in the working lives of women faculty of color. Through personal narratives and qualitative empirical studies, more than 40 authors expose the daunting challenges faced by academic women of color as they navigate the often hostile terrain of higher education, including hiring, promotion, tenure, and relations with students, colleagues, and administrators. The narratives are filled with wit, wisdom, and concrete recommendations, and provide a window into the struggles of professional women in a racially stratified but increasingly multicultural America. -
Strategies and techniques for integrating diversity, equity and inclusion into the core law curriculum comprehensive guide to DEI pedagogy, course planning, and classroom practice byCall Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2022The book features diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) learning outcomes and assessments to acknowledging a range of differences and to embrace difference in the classroom.
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Unequal Profession by Call Number: Law Library (Myron Taylor Hall) KF272 .D47 2019ISBN: 9781503604308Publication Date: 2019-02-05 -
Vulnerable Populations and Transformative Law Teaching by Call Number: Law Library (Myron Taylor Hall) KF336 .V85 2011ISBN: 9781594609497Publication Date: 2011-03-01
