Diversity

At Northeastern University School of Law, we believe the legal profession must reflect the society it serves. To that end, we are committed to enrolling students from a variety of racial, ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds; diverse educational and work experiences; varied geographical backgrounds; differing political ideologies; and diverse gender identities and preferences. Together our students learn to find their voices, reflect on laws and how they should evolve, and bring a vibrancy to dialog in the classroom. And beyond the classroom, we continue to reach out to the greater community. Indeed, in 2011, the Boston Bar Association awarded the School of Law with the Beacon Award for exceptional leadership on diversity strategies that will have a lasting impact on the legal profession in Greater Boston.

Our faculty and student body are diverse: almost half our students come from outside Massachusetts; people of color comprise approximately 35 percent of our student body; more than half our students and faculty are women; 20 percent of our faculty are people of color; and we have a large percentage of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in our community. In addition, we have many students who have worked for two or more years after college, who are first-generation Americans, and who come from a variety of religious and political backgrounds. In the classroom and in the community, we all gain from the insight and ideas exchanged in a diverse environment.

Our commitment to diversity goes far beyond admission decisions and statistics. We believe in the immense value that diversity brings to society and education. We strive to incorporate these ideals into our teaching, governance, and overall law school experience. A national leader in public interest law, the law school has built its reputation on producing lawyers who look to make a change in society and give a voice to those too often underrepresented in the judicial system.

The law school has made a commitment to support these values through the curriculum and Co-op Program offered to our students. One example of this is the mandatory first year course, Legal Skills in Social Context, which helps students understand complex issues of difference and focus on societal and professional values that support the structure and ethical practice of law.

A natural complement to Legal Skills in Social Context is the Public Interest Requirement: all students must successfully complete a public interest law co-op, an approved clinical program, a 30-hour pro-bono public interest project or a special credit public interest independent study project in order to graduate. This program continues to stretch students to think about the power of the legal profession in giving underrepresnted people a voice.

There are many student groups at the law school that represent a large variety of special interests. These groups offer encouragement and support to their members, provide opportunities for education and fun for the law school community and assist in many decisions made at the School of Law.