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Law schools have been doing their very best to recruit diverse students and professors; in fact, there’s now a record number of law school deans and faculty members of color, which is a big positive. If you’re a person of color searching for a law school where you’ll be truly valued for who you are as a person, rather than a law school where you’ll be nothing more than a face in marketing materials to promote diversity and inclusion efforts, then have we got a ranking for you.

In the latest edition of the Best Law Schools for Diversity ranking, National Jurist’s preLaw magazine presents the top law schools for each major minority category in the nation: African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans. The following criteria were considered for inclusion on this year’s list:

We graded each school on three data points: 1) Percentage of students in each ethnic group (50%); 2) Percentage of minority law professors (25%); 3) Diversity services offered by the school (25%).

Student enrollment was determined by adding the number of students who identify as members of each ethnic group with a ratio or students who are two or more races and dividing by the number of students for whom race is known. Data is from the ABA.

Faculty figures are based on the total number of minority faculty members at each school. Data provided by the ABA.

Services are based on: office or administrator who assists minorities (36%); bar exam preparation support (18%); whether the school has a mentoring program for minorities and/or first generation law students (11%); whether the school has student groups that promote the needs of each ethnicity (11%); whether the school has endowed scholarships for minorities (11%); whether the school offers a summer law school preparation program for admitted students (7%); whether the school offers employment workshops designed to help minority students (7%). Data provided by the schools.

Without further ado, here are the top 5 law schools for African American students, Asian students, Hispanic students, and Native American students:

African American Students

1. Howard University School of Law
2. Southern University
3. Texas Southern University
4. North Carolina Central University
5. Florida A&M University

Asian Students

1. University of Hawaii
2. UC Irvine
3. UC Davis School of Law
4. UC Hastings
5. Santa Clara Law

Hispanic Students

1. Southwestern Law School
2. UNM School of Law
3. Texas Southern University
4. Florida A&M University
5. University of Miami School of Law

Native American Students

1. UNM School of Law
2. University of Oklahoma
3. University of Arizona
4. University of Tulsa
5. Oklahoma City University

Congratulations to each of the law schools listed and all of their students!

Click here to see the full rankings, courtesy of preLaw magazine.

Best Law Schools For Diversity [preLaw magazine]

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Former PIMCO CEO Douglas Hodge has five kids. Five thick kids, apparently, or at least too thick for their preferred colleges, in this case Georgetown, USC (yikes) and Loyola Marymount (whoa). But Hodge is (in his way, we guess) a good daddy and put a series of down payments totaling $850,000 on those dreams, which worked 80% of the time. Of course, at the time, Hodge didn’t know that it was a down payment, and that there would be one final, rather significant installment to pay.

The former head of asset management firm Pimco was sentenced on Friday to nine months in prison for his part in a scheme in which privileged parents paid bribes to get their children into U.S. colleges, federal prosecutors said.

Douglas Hodge, who retired as chief executive of Allianz SE’s California-based Pimco in 2016, also was sentenced to two years of supervised release, a $750,000 fine and 500 hours of community service, a spokeswoman for Boston U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in an email.

With daily fantasy expanding across the nation, inveterate cheating like MLB caught the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox wrapped up in now has a potentially bigger pricetag. A Massachusetts man filed a proposed class action looking to recover millions in losses incurred by unlucky players who couldn’t figure out why their opponents kept crushing them stockpiling Red Sox.

The teams apparently used equipment to steal signs and sending in the cues to batters by beating a garbage can. Careful review of Houston’s world championship season is downright hilarious because when you know what to listen for it’s clear the Astros did more tubthumping than Chumbawamba.

The Red Sox have hired Cravath for the matter, bringing Judge Katherine Forrest back to the SDNY on the opposite side of the bench after she left her seat in 2018. The appearance was about coming full circle in another way since she appeared before Judge Jed Rakoff… the judge she originally replaced on the court.

Thanks to some inside tips, Judge Forrest wasn’t going to be thrown by some needling. From Law360:

“What was that name again?” Judge Rakoff quipped, drawing a smile in court from Forrest, the retired legal umpire who made her return to Manhattan federal court after leaving the judiciary in 2018 to rejoin Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP.

Zing.

Ex-Judge Endures Ribbing From Rakoff In Return To Court [Law360]

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

* A Daytona Beach attorney has been disbarred in part for using money out of his trust account to run a strip club. That sounds Florida af. [News Journal]

* Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer caused a stir for implying that women may share some of the blame for being the targets of sexual assault. [New York Daily News]

* Michael Avenatti is still unsure if he will take the stand in his ongoing criminal trial. [New York Post]

* A federal appeals court handed President Trump a win last week when it threw out a lawsuit filed by democratic lawmakers about business payments. [Fox News]

* The Manhattan DA’s office may be reopening its case on the assassination of Malcolm X. Just started watching the Netflix series about this! [Washington Post]

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Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

They are said to have deployed large numbers of intelligence officers in civilian clothes around the country. They are also said to fear mutiny by disgruntled soldiers (see: https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2020/02/07/panicky-army-chiefs-deploy-special-forces/).

While there is widespread hunger as food prices rise and the Zimbabwe dollar withers, vegetables in urban markets are rotting because people can’t afford to buy them (see: https://reliefweb.int/report/zimbabwe/vegetables-rot-food-markets-across-zimbabwe-while-half-population-faces-food).

Women are bearing the main share of the burden. A survey by Transparency International Zimbabwe said more than 57% of women had been forced to offer sexual favours in exchange for jobs, medical care and even seeking placements at schools for their children. The organisation said in its report: ‘sex is a currency in many corrupt deals in Zimbabwe’. (see: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/08/more-than-half-of-women-in-zimbabwe-have-faced-sextortion-finds-survey).

Discord within the ruling party is further destabilizing the country. Three Zanu PF youth leaders have been suspended by the Politburo after calling a news conference to accuse some of Mnangagwa’s close allies of corruption. Secretary for Youth Affairs Pupurai Togarepi was stripped of his position and Youth Political Commissar Godfrey Tsenengamu and Deputy Secretary for Youth Affairs Lewis Matutu were demoted and ordered to go for ‘political orientation’ at the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology.

President Mnangagwa was particularly critical of Togarepi because, he said, he had appointed him to his post even though he was not qualified being 56 years old. For his part, Matutu said afterwards that he would continue fighting corruption. He declared that he would ‘rather die for something than live for nothing’ and added that 2020 would be the beginning of a decade of action by youths.

Tsenengamu said he would not attend the six-month course at the Ideology school. Those who had ordered it should be the ones going there. ‘I do not care what will happen next. I am part of society, live in society and know what corruption is doing to the livelihoods of ordinary people.’

The youth leaders accused three controversial business tycoons, Kuda Tagwirei, Billy Rautenbach (the Green Fuels boss) and Tafadzwa Musarara (Chair of the Grain Millers’ Association) of corruptly grabbing all government tenders.

Matutu said “Let me talk about Tagwirei. I really want to know why he is the one who supplies everything to government — fuel. If we go to Command Agriculture, it’s him at the helm. There was an attempt to investigate him, but he evaded. He has tentacles everywhere, including the money on the black market, he controls that.’ (See: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2020/02/zanu-pf-youths-finger-ed-allies/ and https://zwnews.com/unfazed-matutu-says-fight-continues-declares-decade-of-action-as-zanu-pf-implodes/).

Other points

• Many starving people must be amazed by the Zanu PF-connected businessman Genius Ginimbi’s court battles as he faces a new charge of fraud in connection with importing another Bentley. He recently shared on his Instagram account a video of himself buying a 2-seater Ferrari 488 Spider for US$350,000 to join his collection of super cars at his mansion in Dombashawa which includes 2 Rolls-Royces and 3 Bentleys among many other top range cars (see: https://www.newsday.co.zw/2020/02/socialite-ginimbi-arrested-for-fraud/).
• The Zimbabwe government is to waste US$4.5million on sending tame members of the government-appointed Political Actors’ Dialogue (POLAD) on foreign trips to promote government policiies, POLAD has been boycotted by MDC leader Chamisa (see: http://www.newsdzezimbabwe.co.uk/2020/02/polad-foreign-trips-to-gobble-us45m.html).
• Zimbabweans who have complacently regarded themselves as somehow better than Malawians may have to rethink following the Malawian court ruling that their country’s election last year was rigged – a shock to the system in Zimbabwe where this would be impossible because our rigging is so superior.
• Thanks to those who came early to help set up the front table and put up the banners: Daizy Fabian, Deborah Harry, Jonathan Kariwo, Netsayi Makarichi, Chido Makawa, Rosemary Maponga, Benjamin Molife, Esther Munyira, Molly Ngavaimbe, Tsitsi Nyirongo, Qiniso Sibanda, Bigboy Sibanda, Ephraim Tapa, Kevin Wheeldon and Nattalie Zvoma. Thanks to Rosemary for looking after the front table, to Chido, Benjamin, Tsitsi, Bigboy, Kevin and Nattalie for handing out flyers, to Chido for drumming, to Deborah, Chido and Jonathan for photos, to Molly for the opening prayer, to Tsitsi for donating a rattle and to Rosemary for bringing tea, coffee and cakes.
• Thanks to those who have contributed to the ROHR’s Valentine fundraising dinner: Pamela Chirimuta, Ragarirai Chivaviro, Simbarashe Jingo, Netsayi Makarichi, Chido Makawa, Garikai Mananje, Benjamin Molife, Washington Mugari, Margaret Munenge, Molly Ngavaimbe and Ephraim Tapa. Thanks also to Happy Chazuza for his contribution to the ROHR Mtoko irrigation project
• For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimb88abwevigil/. Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website.

FOR THE RECORD: ­­­18 signed the register.

 

EVENTS AND NOTICES:

• ROHR Valentine’s fundraising dinner dance. Saturday 15^th February from 6 pm till late. Venue: 38 Marcon Place, London E8 1LP. The event is in aid of women living with HIV/AIDS in rural Zimbabwe. Tickets £30. Contact: Esther Munyira 07492058107, Molly Ngavaimbe 07415443973, Patricia Masamba 07708116625 and Margaret Munenge 07384300283.
• ROHR general members’ meeting. Saturday 14^th March from 11.30 am. Venue: Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX. Contact: Ephraim Tapa 07940793090, Patricia Masamba 07708116625, Esther Munyira 07492058107.
• The Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s partner organization based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil to have an organization on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/. Any other website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way represents us.
• World Day of Prayer for Zimbabwe. Friday 6^th March. This year the focus is on Zimbabwe and the service has been prepared by Christian women in Zimbabwe. The theme is ‘Rise! Take you mat and walk’. Christians all round the world will be praying for Zimbabwe. Try to get your own church involved. For more information check: https://www.wwdp.org.uk/.
• Living on the Edge. Tuesday 10^th March from 7 – 9 pm (doors open at 6 pm). Venue: Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR. The event is organised by the Mike Campbell Foundation. Among the speakers are Chief Felix Ndiweni and Beatrice Mtetwa. For full details: https://media.wix.com/ugd/02876c_5b68a136280c42ebbf39f8ebbb722299.pdf.
• The Vigil’s book ‘Zimbabwe Emergency’ is based on our weekly diaries. It records how events in Zimbabwe have unfolded as seen by the diaspora in the UK. It chronicles the economic disintegration, violence, growing oppression and political manoeuvring – and the tragic human cost involved. It is available at the Vigil. All proceeds go to the Vigil and our sister organisation the Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe’s work in Zimbabwe. The book is also available from Amazon.
• Facebook pages:
  Vigil: https://www.facebook.com/zimbabwevigil
  ROHR: https://www.facebook.com/Restoration-of-Human-Rights-ROHR-Zimbabwe-International-370825706588551/
  ZAF: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zimbabwe-Action-Forum-ZAF/490257051027515

Post published in: Featured

The Zimbabwe Rural Schools Library Trust New Zealand will officially launch its Bibliotherapy Project targeting Zimbabwean child survivors of Cyclone Idai at its annual fun run/walk to be held in Hamilton on 7 March 2020. The Mayor of Hamilton Paula Southgate, Member of Parliament for Hamilton East David Bennett and Hamilton City Councillor Sarah Thomson have confirmed their participation. Apologies have been received from Councillor Maxine van Oosten and Anglican Action Chief Executive Officer Karen Morrison-Hume who are other commitments on the day.

Bibliotherapy is healing through reading books or listening to books being read. Evidence is abound that books provide the opportunity for escape and can be strong coping mechanisms in dealing with Post-traumatic stress disorders.

Cyclone Idai hit Southern Africa in March 2019 causing widespread destruction in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. According to UNICEF, in Zimbabwe, more than 130,000 children are estimated to be affected. Support has been provided by many local and international organisations in the form of food, shelter, but many survivors still suffer post-traumatic stress disorders. The Zimbabwe Rural Schools Library believes books will help heal post-traumatic stress disorders in child survivors of school going age, hence the Bibliotherapy initiative.

The March 7 fun run is the sixth for the Zimbabwe Rural Schools Library Trust New Zealand. It was initiated by in 2015 by twin sisters Shefali and Shivani Sinha and has raised money which has been used to buy new books in Zimbabwe and ship books collected from New Zealand to Zimbabwe. Over 100 schools have benefited from the efforts of the Zimbabwe Rural Schools Library Trust.

A registration fee NZ$10.00 for adults and NZ$5 for children of school going age. Registration can be done through the Trust’s Bank Account number  03-1355-0850295-00, through the Trust’s EverydayHero account accessed on the link  https://donate.everydayhero.com/d/8L6Y_2xrWE2X43DBiTomwA/amount or in cash at the venue on 7 March 2020. Donations welcome.

Contact Tariro Kamutingondo on 00 64 22 674 0264 or Patience Ngara on 00 64 20 4020 7503 for further details.

Post published in: Featured

The Zimbabwe NGO Forum (the Forum), notes with concern ongoing attempts by the government of Zimbabwe to amend the Constitution following the recent gazetting by the Clerk of Parliament of the of Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.2) Bill (the Bill), initially on 31 December 2019 and then on 17 January 2020, presumably to correct procedural anomalies in the original gazetting. If the Bill was to pass through, the government would have amended the Constitution twice within a period of just over six years. This move is retrogressive and erodes the tenets of democracy.

The Forum notes with concern that despite the significance of the changes being sought through the Amendment Bill, there have not been any attempts by the government to explain why it is necessary to tinker with the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land in the manner proposed or at all. This goes to the core of constitutionalism and rule of law, considering the amendments are being sought against the background of non-compliance with the Constitution by the government, evidenced by the unduly prolonged constitutional alignment process and non-implementation of some of the provisions of the Constitution. Some of the provisions being amended have not even seen the light of the day. The people of Zimbabwe have not been given the opportunity to experience fully the Constitution which the citizens adopted through a decisive referendum in 2013. This move by the government disregards the wishes and aspiration of the people of Zimbabwe. Parliamentarians and the executive must hold sacrosanct the will of the people and not undermine it.

The proposed amendments follow the first amendment to the 2013 Constitution which came into effect on 7 September 2017, giving the President powers to unilaterally appoint the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice and Judge President of the High Court. The omnibus bill proposes sweeping changes to allow the President to unilaterally appoint and remove the Vice President(s) outside a popular mandate; giving the President more powers in the appointment and extension of tenure of judges of superior courts; extending the women’s quarter system and creating additional 10 seats for the youths;  limiting the powers of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission by placing some of its functions in the hands of a Public Protector appointed solely by the President; cutting on Parliamentary oversight over agreements entered into by the executive with foreign organizations and companies; extending Presidential powers in the appointment and removal of the Prosecutor-General, and extending executive representation by unelected officials in Cabinet, among others.

The running theme in the proposed amendments is cutting back on checks and balances and separation of powers. This undermines the foundational tenets of democracy as power is concentrated in a medieval monarch-type of the executive head of State and government with extended powers to hire and fire constitutional officers and make far-reaching decisions with limited oversight. The nature of the amendments violates established international norms, accepted into our constitutional order by the Constitution. The proposed amendments take Zimbabwe back to the Lancaster House Constitution, whose extensive executive powers and attenuated oversight mechanisms were overwhelmingly rejected by Zimbabweans on 16 March 2013, as they elected unto themselves a more democratic and progressive Constitution more in tune with their wishes and aspirations.

Amendments ostensibly proposed to further equal representation by extending the women’s parliamentary quota and introducing a youth quota, mask reality and have unintended consequences of achieving the opposite. Global trends make clear that driving women and youth representation in key decision-making organs of State by means of quota allocation undermine real gender and youth empowerment, and amounts to treating symptoms instead of the problems. Real transformation is achieved when more women and youth access the top echelons of power through efforts made to ensure level competing for turf for women and youth. In any event, the Constitution mandates as 50/50 gender representation. It is also a fact that under the current 9^th Session of Parliament, elected Parliamentary representation of women dropped relative to the 8^th Session. Extending the women’s quota is a way to mask these real trends. Likewise, the token creation of 10 youth quota seats in Parliament inadvertently displays the skewed demographic representation in Parliament in a country in which youth constitute the majority of the adult population, undermining actual work needed to ensure effective, meaningful and demographically-proportionate youth representation in Parliament.

The gazzetted Bill wholesomely undermines constitutionalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances on the executive powers of the President. As such, the Forum, as a principled collective vested in fostering a culture of rule of law, human rights and respect to constitutionalism, takes a firm position against attempts to re-arrange the constitutional order in an undemocratic and unprincipled manner that is devoid of consultation which should be pivotal considering that it was citizens who voted for the constitution. The Forum questions the basis and influences of the amendments. There were no public consultations in any form on whether the proposed amendments are needed. The Bill in its entirety is unnecessary, and there is no reason of functionality or substantive dissonance with the constitutional order articulated to justify the amendments. Even if there was a “mischief” to be corrected, resorting to mutilating the supreme law is reserved as the last resort.

Zimbabwe’s nearly seven-year-old Constitution was adopted through a nation-wide referendum that was supported by over 95% of the voters – making it a product of an almost unanimous vote. Through the COPAC process, the country made significant investment into redefining its social contract to take it into its future. Barely a decade, those entrusted with the mandate to lead the operationalization of that social contract and charter the country into its future, are leading a process of dismantling and decimating that social contract for no apparent reason of progress and national advancement. A government that cuts back on a social contract to which it fully participated in its making, unmasks insincerity on its part. The executive is seeking to reverse the democratic virtues encoded in the supreme law, and for the second time in a short space of time, is seeking to cut back on democratic tenets and re-arrange the democratic order. While the Constitution does allow for amendment, it is the Forum’s position that any such amendments have to be reasonable, necessary and advance respect for rule of law and the founding values as captured in section 3 of the Constitution. Amending the Constitution for partisan and self-propelling political ends is a history whose undemocratic dividends Zimbabweans know all too well.

After 90 days from gazetting, the Bill will be eligible for introduction in Parliament. In terms of section 328(4) of the Constitution, immediately after the Speaker has given notice of a Constitutional Bill in the Gazette, Parliament must invite members of the public to express their views on the proposed Bill in public meetings and through written submissions, and must convene meetings and provide facilities to enable the public to do so. Citizens are duty-bound to take a firm stand against unprincipled constitutional mutilation and democratic retrogression. The Forum has no doubt that citizens will be emphatic in registering their displeasure over the amendments, and will defend the Constitution against amendments from which they derive no gain. In the same vein, Members of Parliament, who swore to uphold the Constitution and its values on assumption of duty, are duty-bound to work for democratic consolidation.

To that end, the Forum calls upon:

•  All responsible and people-centred Parliamentarians to take a stand against the Bill. The Constitution is not only the supreme law of the land but an embodiment of the aspirations of the people and an expression of the social contract.

• The government of Zimbabwe to withdraw the Bill and refocus its energies on popularizing the Constitution and meeting its obligations to fully implement it, including substantive alignment of the legislation that is still at odds with the supreme law.

Post published in: Featured

“Refugee populations around the world are one of the most vulnerable,” said Eddie Rowe, WFP Zimbabwe Country Representative & Director.

“At a time when Zimbabwe and Southern Africa is faced with massive humanitarian needs because of drought and economic woes, this already at-risk community is struggling even more. The support from the people and Government of Korea will make a great difference in the lives of the refugee population here.”

Located in Chipinge district, TRC is home to nearly 14,000 refugees from across southern and central Africa. The funds provided by the Republic of Korea will enable WFP – in partnership with the Government of Zimbabwe, UNHCR and Terre des Hommes, a Southern Africa-based NGO – to continue providing much-needed food and nutrition assistance.

Due to their refugee status, TRC residents are unable to seek employment outside the camp, and internal income-generating opportunities are limited. Therefore, most households rely solely on WFP food assistance to survive.

“I hope that this assistance we are recognizing today will help the people in Tongogara Refugee Camp to enhance their well-being.” Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, H.E. Cho Jaichel said. “I also hope the friendship and cooperation between our two countries will continue and strengthen further. Despite the current challenges, I strongly believe that Zimbabwe has a great potential of growth and brighter future. For our Zimbabwean friends, the Korean government is always ready to share our development experience.”

WFP’s support to refugees in Zimbabwe faces ongoing funding shortfalls. The Republic of Korea’s contribution comes in the wake of an urgent plea for funds by WFP, which is working to provide 4.1 million people in Zimbabwe with emergency food assistance amid the country’s current hunger crisis. At present, more than 7.7 million people – or half of Zimbabwe’s population – is food insecure. More than US$200 million is still required for WFP to provide people with life-saving food aid during the peak of this year’s lean season (Jan-April 2020).

The United Nations World Food Programme – saving lives in emergencies and changing lives for millions through sustainable development. WFP works in more than 80 countries around the world, feeding people caught in conflict and disasters, and laying the foundations for a better future.

Post published in: Agriculture