(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
If elected to serve as president, Kamala Harris could make history in several ways. Not only would she be the first woman to serve as president, but she’d also be the first multiracial woman to serve as president. In terms of her professional background, Harris would be the second person to serve as president without a degree from from a top-14 law school.
Harris is a 1989 graduate of the University of California Hastings College of the Law, a school that was recently renamed as the University of California College of Law, San Francisco.
In comments given to Law.com, Dean David Faigman of UC Law SF said that legal education is “a hallmark of American presidents” — in fact, 27 of the past 46 presidents previously worked as lawyers. Notably, just six of those lawyer-presidents actually graduated from law schools that are now among the T-14, with the rest going without a degree at all, having completed apprenticeships to become practicing lawyers.
UC Law SF ranked No. 82 in 2024 by U.S. News & World Report. The program has a 30.9% acceptance rate and enrolled 1,125 students last year. Faigman said that he welcomed the incoming 1L class on Aug. 13 and that of the 401 new students, 50% were women and 54% were people of color.
“I would say our class represents the demographics that Kamala Harris is proud to represent,” Faigman said.
Current President Joe Biden graduated from Syracuse University College of Law in 1968, becoming the first modern-day president to graduate from a non-T-14 law school. Best of luck to Kamala Harris as she attempts to make law school history in her campaign for the White House.
Kamala Harris Would Only Be the Second Lawyer-President With a Non-T-14 Law Degree [Law.com]
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 X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.