Emory Law School Website

A Diversity Statement From Dean Partlett:

Throughout its history, Emory University School of Law has developed a reputation for challenging social norms while striving to lead the local and national dialogue on important issues of the day. Through the work of Henry L. Bowden 34L and Dean Ben F. Johnson Jr. 39L, Emory University argued for and won the landmark case that integrated Georgia’s private universities well before passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Dean Johnson also created the Pre-Start Program, which extended opportunities for legal education to minorities.

Our forebears were visionary in their belief that all students, regardless of race, gender, or socio-economic status, deserved the opportunity to seek a rewarding career in the law. They believed that an outstanding legal education should be available to all capable students – and they took steps to ensure that vision was realized.

Today, Emory Law stands on the shoulders of these visionaries and strives to embrace and seek out students from a variety of racial, ethnic, socio-economic and religious backgrounds. Through our Office of Diversity and Community Initiatives, we work to create and enhance opportunities that foster dialogue on these differences. Indeed, one main component of Emory University’s strategic plan is to find ways to explore these differences in our community through asking challenging questions and seeking answers together.

Our students engage these issues through any one of our more than thirty student organizations; through planning and hosting conferences on topical issues such as the challenges facing women in the legal profession; or through classroom discussions or research projects focused on issues of race, gender, and sexuality in society. 

We continue to affirm the vision of our forebears, and we strive to ensure that all capable students have the opportunity to seek and to achieve an outstanding legal education.

David F. Partlett
Dean and Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law