Nou Kicks off Women in Academia Series with Candid Advice
When Jennifer Nou was a first-year at Yale Law School, she approached a professor who shared her interest in political philosophy and asked if she could do some research for him. She ended up writing a memo that, over the course of law school, became a paper that they co-authored.
“I never would have had that opportunity if I hadn’t approached him my first year,” Nou, the Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Law, told a group of students earlier this week. “It came about because I was interested in his research. To me, that’s the best way to carve your own path in the law — to seek out projects that excite you and people with whom you want to work.”
Nou’s talk, which was sponsored by the Law Women’s Caucus, was the first in a new series that is designed to give students additional exposure to the Law School’s female faculty.
“I hope students will get a sense for the quality and richness of the Law School’s female faculty,” said Rosie Wu, ’16, president of the Law Women’s Caucus. “We also want to give students the opportunity to hear diverse stories of how women have navigated careers in academia, as well as hear about the different sorts of scholarship these women have pursued.”
The talk drew about three dozen students, including a few men. The series is part of an overall push by the Caucus to highlight women in different areas of law. The group offered a lunch talk focused on women in transactional law last quarter, and it will host a women-in-litigation talk on Friday, as well as a talk focused on women in public interest next week.
“We want to expose students to the different options they have with a law degree,” Wu said, “as well as highlight women who have been very successful in their chosen fields.”
The Women in Academia series topics are chosen by the speakers. Nou discussed how to approach a career in government or academia, sharing a variety of insights and anecdotes from her own career along the way.
“Law schools do a great job of getting students in front of law firms, but there’s less out there about government jobs,” Nou said. “The Law Women’s Caucus series is also a terrific way to encourage our students to consider legal academia and to share the ideas they have in our classes with a broader audience.”
Nou talked frankly with students about her career, which included clerkships with Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, as well as a job working for Cass Sunstein in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
Annie Gowen, ’17, attended the talk because she’s interested in a career in government, particularly in policy.
“I know Professor Nou has a lot of experience, and I’ve heard from 2Ls that she’s a great resource,” Gowen said. “This was really helpful.”
The series will continue Tuesday with a talk, “Anger in Personal Relationships,” by Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics. Professor Alison LaCroix, the Ludwig and Hilde Wolf Teaching Scholar, will speak in February. Emily Buss, the Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of Law, will speak later this year, and Wu hopes to add more to schedule.