The Language of Law School This page intentionally left blank

Becoming Gentlemen
. The survey portion of the University of Penn-
sylvania study indicated that women reported a participation rate almost half that of men,
with first-year females far more likely to say that “men are called on more often than women
and receive more time and more follow-up in class, that the sex of students affects class
experience, and that sexist comments are permitted” in class.
61. Neufeld, “Costs of an Outdated Pedagogy?,” 540.
62. Id., 540–541, 548–550. The results regarding grades rely on percentages of women
and men garnering honors or higher grades; they do not control for entering credentials.
The survey sample of more than 1,000 responses represents a better response rate than
has been the case in some survey studies of individual law schools, with 52% and 50% of
the first-year class responding to fall and spring surveys, as well as 40% of the second-year
and 33% of the third-year students returning responses for the spring survey.
63. Yale Law Women, 
Yale Law School
, 13–19, 29–33, 81. Like the Harvard study, the
Yale study had a somewhat better than average response rate (44%) compared to some
other surveys that have been conducted in individual law schools, with a decline by year
of law school roughly comparable to that in the Harvard study. To the authors’ credit, they
note that there were substantially more responses from women than men to this survey.
(Although my core focus here is on observational studies, I pause here to stress that it is
important in survey research to give overt consideration to methodological issues such as
response rates, confidence intervals, and potential skewing. An insufficient response can
necessitate abandoning a survey if it isn’t possible to take adequate account of resulting
deficiencies; in any case, a properly limited interpretation of results in light of method-
ological limitations is important in all kinds of research. In Chapter 9, I discuss the pos-
sible tensions between this kind of cautious approach, or humility, and some of the
tendencies of legal training and legal discourse.)
64. Krauskopf, “Touching the Elephant”; 30% of men but only 15% of women re-
ported asking questions frequently in class; 46% of men but 54% of women reported that
they “never/seldom volunteer in class” Id., 314, 325–326.
65. See also reports on difficulties faced by women in legal education issued by the
ABA Commision on Women, 
Elusive Equality
, and the Chicago Bar Association. McNamee,
“Alliance for Women.”
66. A two-phase study at a large state university law school, published in 1978, found
substantial differences between men and women, with women less likely to rate themselves
as approximating the traits of an “ideal” lawyer and more likely to report dissatisfaction
with their classroom and overall law school experiences. Robert and Winter, “Sex-Role
and Success in Law School.” Women performed as well as men in terms of grades, but far
Notes to Pages 187–188
263

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more women than men who were successful still disliked law school. A study by Garrison
et al. (Brooklyn Law School) found overall similarities between women and men with re-
gard to many aspects of law school experience, including grades and honors and sense of
comfort regarding interactions outside of class; however, female students did report lower
class participation and more overall distress than did male students. Garrison et al., “Suc-
ceeding in Law School,” 520, 525; see also Ogloff et al., “More Than ‘Learning to Think,’ ”
195. Fortunately, research has found indications of diminution in student distress, at least
at some law schools, by the third year. See Gulati et al., “The Happy Charade.” On the other
hand, several psychological studies have shown differential continuing distress among
female law students. McCleary and Zucker, “Higher Trait- and State-Anxiety”; McIntosh
et al., “Stress and Health.”
In a 1987 survey of Harvard law school graduates, Granfield found differences both
between women and men and also among women who differed by race, class, and occu-
pational goals. Granfield,