Columbia Law Dean Voices Confidence In Graduates In Face Of Conservative Judges' Boycott

Following up on yesterday's post, 13 Federal Judges Will Not Hire Law Clerks From Columbia: An ‘Incubator Of Bigotry’:  Reuters, Columbia Law Voices Confidence in Grads in Face of Conservative Judges' Boycott:

The head of Columbia Law School backed its graduates on Tuesday, saying they were "consistently sought out" as it responded to an announcement by 13 conservative federal judges that they would not hire students from the Ivy League university.

The judges announced the boycott on Monday, citing the university's handling of pro-Palestinian protests and calling the Manhattan campus an "incubator of bigotry" in a letter to Columbia President Minouche Shafik and Law Dean Gillian Lester.

Lester said in a statement on Tuesday that Columbia Law graduates were "consistently sought out by leading employers in the private and public sectors, including the judiciary." ...

But figures suggest the boycott will have limited real world impact.

Columbia Law School is not a major feeder into federal clerkships, with the vast majority of its graduates going into associate jobs at large law firms. Just 21 of the Manhattan law school's 427 juris doctor graduates in 2023 went into federal clerkships — about 5% — according to the latest employment data from the American Bar Association.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• New York Times, 54 Columbia Law Faculty Condemn Administration For Disciplinary Action Against Anti-Israel Student Protesters (Apr. 23, 2024)
• Washington Post, Punish Columbia Professors, Not Students Protesters, For The Intellectual Degeneration On Campus (Apr. 28, 2024)
• Law.com, Columbia Law School Delays Exams Amid Protests and Police Activity (May 1, 2024)
• Bloomberg Law, Columbia Law School Offers Optional Pass/Fail Grading Amid Campus Protests (May 2, 2024)
• Washington Free Beacon, “Irrevocably Shaken”: Columbia Law Review Editors Demand Cancellation Of Exams Due To Campus Protests (May 4, 2024)