Boston, MA, and Rochester, NY. As part of the firm’s commitment to advancing diversity, Nixon Peabody LLP is playing a role in a closely watched case that will have widespread ramifications, Fisher v. University of Texas, et. al. The question presented in that case is, “Whether [the] Court’s decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, including Grutter v. Bollinger, permit the University of Texas at Austin’s use of race in undergraduate admission decisions.”
Supporters of diversity in higher education have lined up on the side of the University expressing their shared belief that diversity is essential in what is an increasingly demographically diverse nation. Across the U.S., states including Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have filed briefs.
Nixon Peabody LLP prepared the amicus brief for the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA). Rochester partners David Schraver and David Tennant developed the brief as a pro bono matter. The NYSBA brief argues that the government has a compelling interest in promoting diversity in the legal profession—something that cannot happen without meaningful diversity in the undergraduate pipeline.
Nixon Peabody was also a signatory to the Boston Bar Association’s amicus brief in Fisher, which similarly emphasized the importance of a diverse legal profession, including judges and others in the court system, to best serve the needs of an increasingly diverse client base. The BBA’s brief directly linked diversity in the legal profession to diversity in undergraduate student populations, which serve as the pipeline for law schools and the profession.
Download the amicus briefs