Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) listens to testimony during a Senate Judiciary Committee nominations hearing, on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM Kamala Harris Would Only Be the Second Lawyer-President With a Non-T-14 Law Degree
UC Law SF Dean David Faigman said legal education is "a hallmark of American presidents," noting that 27 of the nation's 45 past presidents were previously lawyers.
August 15, 2024 at 06:55 PM
5 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
What You Need to Know
- If elected, Kamala Harris would be only the second lawyer-president to earn a law degree from a non-T-14 law school.
- Current President Joe Biden was the first lawyer-president to break from tradition.
- 27 U.S. presidents have been lawyers, but only a handful have obtained law degrees at all.
If Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris is elected in November, the Oakland, California, native would be only the second lawyer-president to hold a law degree from a university that is not considered a top-14 law school in the U.S. News & World Report Rankings.
After graduating from Howard University, a historically black college in the Washington, D.C., area, with dual degrees in economics and political science in 1986, Harris went on to earn her law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law (which was renamed last year to the University of California College of Law, San Francisco) in 1989.
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