Professor Afsharipour Delivers Endowed Lecture at Marquette Law School

On Sept. 23, Professor Afra Afsharipour delivered the Marquette University Law School Robert F. Boden Lecture, “Behind the Closed Network: Data, Power, and Gender Stagnation in Corporate Law."

More from the lecture summary: 

While the ABA has dubbed 2016 to 2026 “The Decade of the Female Lawyer”—with women making up a majority of law students, a majority of law firm associates, almost half of all law faculty, and more than forty percent of law school deans—the upper echelons of elite corporate law firms remain stubbornly resistant to change. Drawing on a series of empirical studies, this lecture unmasks persistent gender disparities entrenched in high-stakes transactional and corporate litigation practice. Rather than advancing inclusion, elite corporate law practice operates as a self-reinforcing closed network where women continue to face inferior access to influential network resources and are frequently left on the periphery. Disrupting this stagnation requires structural changes within elite firm leadership and greater data transparency.

Afra Afsharipour is John D. Ayer Professor of Law and director of the Center for Business Law and Society at UC Davis School of Law. Her areas of research include corporate law and governance, mergers and acquisitions, transactional law, and the legal profession. From 2018-2024, she served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Her scholarship has appeared in the Columbia Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, and UC Davis Law Review, among other leading publications.