(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
If Kamala Harris is elected president, she could make history in many ways. Not only would she be the first woman to hold the office, but she would also be the first woman of any ethnic group. In terms of her professional background, Harris would be the second person to assume the office of president without graduating from one of the top 14 law schools.
Harris graduated in 1989 from the University of California Hastings College of the Law, a school recently renamed the University of California College of Law, San Francisco.
In a comment to Law.com, Dean David Faigman of UC Law SF said that a legal education is “a hallmark of American presidents” — in fact, 27 of the last 46 presidents previously worked as lawyers. Notably, only six of these lawyer presidents actually graduated from the law schools that are now in the T-14, while the rest did not graduate at all but trained to become practicing lawyers.
UC Law SF ranked 82nd in 2024 according to U.S. News & World Report. The program has an acceptance rate of 30.9% and 1,125 students were enrolled last year. Faigman said he welcomed the new 1L class on Aug. 13 and of the 401 new students, 50% are women and 54% are people of color.
“I would say our class represents the demographic that Kamala Harris proudly represents,” Faigman said.
Current President Joe Biden graduated from Syracuse University College of Law in 1968, becoming the first president in modern history to graduate from a law school not open to T-14 students. Good luck to Kamala Harris as she attempts to make legal history in her campaign for the White House.
Kamala Harris would be only the second lawyer in office to hold a law degree that is not T-14 (Law.com)
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she has worked since 2011. She welcomes your feedback, so feel free to email her with tips, questions, comments, or criticism. You can follow her on X/Twitter and threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
