Meera E. Deo

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Meera Deo

Professor of Law

Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles;

J.D., University of Michigan Law School;

B.A., University of California, Berkeley, with high honors

Phone: (619) 961-4227

E-mail: mdeo@tjsl.edu

Professor Meera E. Deo, J.D., Ph.D., is an interdisciplinary scholar who utilizes empirical methods to interrogate trends in legal education, institutional diversity, and affirmative action. She is Director of the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE) based at Indiana University and is a Visiting Professor at UC Davis School of Law. Her book, Unequal Profession: Race and Gender in Legal Academia (Stanford University Press, 2019), draws from the first empirical study of law faculty utilizing an intersectional lens to investigate raceXgender challenges and identify solutions to overcome barriers facing traditionally underrepresented faculty. Professor Deo is a co-editor and contributing author for Power, Legal Education, and Law School Cultures, forthcoming with Routledge Press. She has held visiting positions at Berkeley Law, UC Irvine School of Law, and UCLA School of Law.

Professor Deo practiced civil rights law with the ACLU National Legal Department in New York City, where she worked on impact litigation involving privacy and cyberspace law. She was later Staff Attorney for Women’s Health, and Director of the Breast Cancer Legal Project at the California Women’s Law Center, a statewide women’s advocacy nonprofit based in Los Angeles. The National Science Foundation (NSF), the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship, and numerous University of California grants and awards supported her doctoral dissertation on social capital benefits of membership in law student organizations. Professor Deo is Chair of the AALS Section on Law and the Social Sciences and was an appointee to the California Commission on Access to Justice. She has served as an empirical research consultant to the South Asian Network (SAN) and the ACLU of Southern California.

Professor Deo’s scholarship draws from original mixed-method empirical research to investigate the law student and law faculty experience. She is a regular speaker at national and regional conferences including those organized by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), the American Sociological Association (ASA), and the Law & Society Association (LSA). Her interdisciplinary and empirical research on institutional diversity has been published in leading law journals and cited in numerous amicus briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Courses include:

Civil Procedure I & II, Law & Society, and Scholarly Legal Writing

Books

Unequal Profession: Race & Gender in Legal Academia ( Stanford University Press 2019)

Articles, Book Chapters, And Article-Length Works

Affirmative Action Assumptions, 52 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 2407 (2019)

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders on Television, 17(4) Contexts 12 (with Faustina M. DuCros, Christina B. Chin, Jenny Jong-Hwa Lee, Nancy Wang Yuen, and Noriko Milman, ) (2018)

Intersectional Barriers to Tenure, 51 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 997 (2018)

Trajectory of a Law Professor, 20 Mich. J. Race & L. 441 (2015), available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2737690

A Better Tenure Battle: Fighting Bias in Teaching Evaluations, 31 Colum. J. Gender & L. 7 (2015)

Faculty Insights on Educational Diversity, 83 Fordham L. Rev. 3115 (2015), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2670927

The Ugly Truth About Legal Academia, 80 Brook. L. Rev. 943 (2015), available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2524097

Looking Forward to Diversity in Legal Academia, 29 Berkeley J. Gender L. & Just. 352 (2014), available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2449850

Empirically Derived Compelling State Interests in Affirmative Action Jurisprudence, 65 Hastings L.J. 661 (2014), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2315787

Two Sides of a Coin: Safe Space & Segregation in Race/Ethnic-Specific Law Student Organizations, 42 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 83 (2013), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2097926

Book Review, The End of the Pipeline. A Journey of Recognition for African Americans Entering the Legal Profession, by Dorothy Evensen and Carla D. Pratt, 62 J. Legal Educ. 640 (2013), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2285693

Separate, Unequal, and Seeking Support, 28 Harv. J. on Racial & Ethnic Just. 9 (2012) available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2222799

The Social Capital Benefits of Peer Mentoring Relationships in Law School, 38 Ohio N.U. L. Rev. 305 (with Kimberly A. Griffin) (2011) available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2019119

The Promise of Grutter: Diverse Interactions at the University of Michigan Law School, 17 Mich. J. Race & L. 63 (2011) available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2019107

Paint by Number? How the Race & Gender of Law School Faculty Affect the First Year Curriculum, 29 Chicano-Latino L. Rev. 1 (2010) (first author, with Maria Woodruff and Rican Vue) available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1957246

Struggles & Support: Diversity in U.S. Law Schools, 23 Nat’l. Black L.J. 71 (2010) (first author, with Walter R. Allen, A.T. Panter, Charles Daye, and Linda Wightman)

It Matters How and When You Ask: Self-Reported Race/Ethnicity of Incoming Law Students. 15 Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 51 (2009) (with A.T. Panter, Charles Daye, Walter R. Allen, and Linda Wightman)

Missing In Action: "Framing" Race on Prime Time Television, 35 Soc. Just. 145 (2008) (first author, with Christina Chin, Jenny J. Lee, Noriko Milman, and Nancy Wang Yuen)

Identifying Predictors of Law Student Life Satisfaction, 58 J. Legal Educ. 520 (2008) (with Nisha C. Gottfredson, A.T. Panter, Charles E. Daye, Walter T. Allen, and Linda F. Wightman)

India, Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society (2008) (edited by Richard T. Schaefer)

Without a Trace: Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders in Prime Time Television, in Contemporary Asian America: A Multidisciplinary Reader (with Christina Chin, Jenny Lee, Noriko Milman, and Nancy Wang Yuen) (Min Zhou and J.V. Gatewood eds., New York University Press, 2nd ed. 2007)

Ebbs & Flows: The Courts in Racial Context, 8 Rutgers Race & L. Rev. 167 (2007)

Asian Pacific Americans in Prime Time: Still No Action (with Christina Chin, Jenny J. Lee, Noriko Milman, and Nancy Wang Yuen) (Asian American Justice Center 2006)

Asian Pacific Americans in Prime Time: Lights, Camera, and Little Action (with Christina Chin, Jenny J. Lee, Noriko Milman, and Nancy Yuen)( National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium 2005)

Diversity in Legal Academia, Gender Sidelining Conference, Academic Culture Salon California Western School of Law, San Diego, CA (April 11, 2018)

Diversity in Legal Academia, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, Chicago, ILL (April 8, 2018)

Diversity in Legal Academia, Association of American Law Schools (AALS), San Diego, CA (January 26, 2018)

Race, Representation, and Tokenization: Asian Americans on Primetime Television, American Sociological Association (ASA) Annual Meeting, Montreal, Ontario, Canada (August 26, 2017)

Race, Representation, and Tokenization: Asian Americans on Primetime Television, American Sociological Association (ASA) Annual Meeting, Montreal (August 10, 2017)

Race, Representation, and Tokenization: Asian Americans on Primetime Television, Law & Society Annual Meeting, Mexico City, Mexico (June 16, 2017)

Diversity in Legal Academia, UC Irvine Center for Empirical Research on the Legal Profession, University of California at Irvine (June 14, 2017)

No Longer Missing in Action?: New Findings from a Study of Asian Americans and Pacifice Islanders on Primetime, Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (April 9, 2017)

(In) Visibility: Asian American Representation in Primetime Television, Association of Asian American Studies (AAAS) Conference, Portland, OR (April 8, 2017)

Diversity in Legal Academia: In Pursuit of Work/Life Balance, Law School Diversity Professionals Annual Meeting, Sacramento, CA (April 7, 2017)

Intersectional Barriers to Tenure, UCI Center on Law, Equality, and Race, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA (March 4, 2017)

Diversity & Discrimination in Legal Academia, American Bar Foundation, American Bar Association, Chicago, ILL (March 3, 2017)

Intersectional Barriers to Tenure, Race of the Races Symposium, UCI School of Law, Irvine, CA (February 15, 2017)

Intersectional Barriers to Tenure, AALS Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (January 14, 2017)

Diversity in Legal Academia, UCI Criminology, Law & Society, Irvine, CA (November 10, 2016)

Diversity in Legal Academia, LSA Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (June 18, 2016)

Individual & Structural Solutions to Workplace Discrimination, Critical Race Studies Conference, Yale Law School, New Haven, CT (April 8, 2016)

Sources of Support for Legal Academics, Global Justice for Women Symposium, Santa Clara University School of Law, Santa Clara, CA (February 20, 2016)

The Ugly Truth about Legal Academia, AALS New Law Professors' Conference, Washington, DC (January 16, 2016)

A Better Tenure Battle, AALS Mid-Year Conference, Orlando, FL (June 6, 2015)

Diversity and Inclusion in the Classroom, Law School Admissions Council 2015, Diversity Retention Conference, Las Vegas, NV (April 11, 2015)

Insights on Educational Diversity, University of San Francisco Office of Diversity, University of San Francisco Office of Diversity & School of Law (March 19, 2015)

Trajectory of a Law Professor, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, Chicago, ILL (January 29, 2015)

Leadership in Legal Academia, AALS Women in Legal Education Business Meeting, Washington DC (January 10, 2015)

A Better Tenure Battle, AALS Annual Meeting, Crosscutting Program, Washington DC (January 10, 2015)

Trajectory of a Law Professor, Critical Race Studies Symposium (CRS) on Whiteness as Property, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (October 11, 2014)

Diversity in Legal Academia, South Asian Bar Association, Los Angeles, CA (September 25, 2014)

Trajectory of a Law Professor, Michigan Journal of Race & Law 20th Anniversary Symposium, University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, MI (September 19, 2014)

Trajectory of a Law Professor, University of Maryland, Francis King Carey School of Law, Baltimore, MD (September 18, 2014)

The Ugly Truth about Legal Academia, New Legal Realism Conference, Irvine, CA (August 30, 2014)

The Ugly Truth about Legal Academia , South Asian Legal Academics Inaugural Workshop, Irvine, CA (August 1, 2014)

Intersectional Bias, O’Melveny & Myers, LLP, Los Angeles, CA (July 21, 2014)

Empirically Derived Compelling State Interests in Affirmative Action Jurisprudence, Yale Law School, New Haven, CT (March 26, 2014)

Racial Isolation & Diversity in Law School, Yale Law School, New Haven, CT (March 26, 2014)

Diversity in Legal Academia , The Case for Diversity and Affirmative Action in the Wake of Fisher and Schuette, University of California, Berkley, School of Law, Berkley, CA (March 3, 2014)

Empirically Derived Compelling State Interests, The Case for Diversity and Affirmative Action in the Wake of Fisher and Schuette, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Berkeley, CA (March 3, 2014)

The Future of Law School Diversity, AALS Annual Meeting, Presidential Workshop on Tomorrow’s Law Schools, panel on Law Professors of the Future, New York City (January 5, 2014)

Some Hypotheses for an Empirical Analysis of Law Faculty Diversity, Southern California Junior Faculty Workshop, California Western School of Law , Fullerton, CA (May 14, 2013)

Preliminary Findings from the Diversity in Legal Academia Project, Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice Symposium, Berkeley Law, Berkeley (March 8, 2013)

Innovations in Mixed-Method Empirical Research, AALS Annual Meeting, Law & the Social Sciences Panel, New Orleans (January 7, 2013)

Two Sides of a Coin: Safe Space and Segregation in Race/Ethnic-Specific Law Student Organizations , Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV (November 16, 2012)

The Thomas Jefferson School of Law faculty is highly prolific in the field of legal scholarship and our professors are in demand as speakers and panelists at legal events in the U.S. and abroad.