Uploaded June 2017 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
7th Annual Critical Race Studies Symposium
Whiteness As Property: A 20-Year Appraisal
Whiteness as Property in Practice: Attorneys of Color in White Spaces (October 3, Friday)
Historically, the practice of law has been an elite endeavor. The profession privileged those who asserted a property interest in being white and male, relegating others to non‐participatory positions. In one instance, the court upheld a law specifying that non‐whites could not even testify against whites. In another, judges opined that the “natural and proper timidity and delicacy” of women deemed them unfit for legal practice. More commonly, and more recently, regulation of the white‐normative aspects of the legal profession has tracked the shift in racism generally, becoming more “subtle though no less damaging.” Thus, the culture of the legal profession remains overwhelmingly white and xenophobic. In legal academia, whiteness is maintained both through implicit bias and direct discrimination against entry‐level candidates, while senior scholars of color may be reluctant to assume leadership roles based on the race‐based challenges they anticipate. Practicing attorneys of color may face fewer initial hurdles, at least in the corporate sector. Yet, few lawyers of color successfully climb the corporate law firm ladder to partnership and leadership positions. Even in public interest settings, which many expect are flooded with attorneys of color committed to social justice, the environment is often unfriendly to people of color who seek to change the traditional white paradigm. This panel will explore white spaces in the legal profession, focusing explicitly on the ways in which a vested property interest in whiteness continues to exclude and isolate attorneys of color. The discussion will include both challenges facing legal academics, corporate attorneys, and public interest lawyers of color, and strategies for combatting ongoing discrimination in order to achieve professional success.
Moderator: Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Charles M. and Marion J. Kierscht Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law
Panelists:
Meera Deo, Associate Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; Discrimination in Hiring and Promoting Law Faculty of Color
Bryant Garth, Chancellor’s Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law; Race and Ethnicity through the Lens of the After the J.D. Project
Luz Herrera, Assistant Dean of Clinical Education, Experiential Learning, and Public Service, UCLA School of Law; Whiteness as Property in Public Interest Lawyering
7th Annual Critical Race Studies Symposium
Whiteness As Property: A 20-Year Appraisal
Whiteness as Property in Practice: Attorneys of Color in White Spaces (October 3, Friday)
Historically, the practice of law has been an elite endeavor. The profession privileged those who asserted a property interest in being white and male, relegating others to non‐participatory positions. In one instance, the court upheld a law specifying that non‐whites could not even testify against whites. In another, judges opined that the “natural and proper timidity and delicacy” of women deemed them unfit for legal practice. More commonly, and more recently, regulation of the white‐normative aspects of the legal profession has tracked the shift in racism generally, becoming more “subtle though no less damaging.” Thus, the culture of the legal profession remains overwhelmingly white and xenophobic. In legal academia, whiteness is maintained both through implicit bias and direct discrimination against entry‐level candidates, while senior scholars of color may be reluctant to assume leadership roles based on the race‐based challenges they anticipate. Practicing attorneys of color may face fewer initial hurdles, at least in the corporate sector. Yet, few lawyers of color successfully climb the corporate law firm ladder to partnership and leadership positions. Even in public interest settings, which many expect are flooded with attorneys of color committed to social justice, the environment is often unfriendly to people of color who seek to change the traditional white paradigm. This panel will explore white spaces in the legal profession, focusing explicitly on the ways in which a vested property interest in whiteness continues to exclude and isolate attorneys of color. The discussion will include both challenges facing legal academics, corporate attorneys, and public interest lawyers of color, and strategies for combatting ongoing discrimination in order to achieve professional success.
Moderator: Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Charles M. and Marion J. Kierscht Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law
Panelists:
Meera Deo, Associate Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; Discrimination in Hiring and Promoting Law Faculty of Color
Bryant Garth, Chancellor’s Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law; Race and Ethnicity through the Lens of the After the J.D. Project
Luz Herrera, Assistant Dean of Clinical Education, Experiential Learning, and Public Service, UCLA School of Law; Whiteness as Property in Public Interest Lawyering
