Pitt Law Dean Named to 2015 Power List

PITTSBURGH—University of Pittsburgh School of Law Dean William M. Carter Jr. has been named to the 2015 Power List of the media firm Lawyers Of Color. The distinction honors the nation’s most influential minority attorneys and nonminority diversity advocates who have made significant contributions to the legal profession. 

This is the second consecutive year that Carter has received this distinction. He will be recognized at the 2015 Power List Awards Reception in Washington, D.C., on March 18. Carter also will be profiled with other honorees from across the nation in Lawyers Of Color’s forthcoming publication Power Issue 2015.

Carter has served as the dean of Pitt’s School of Law since July 2012. Under his leadership, the law school has consistently been ranked as one of the nation’s upper-tier law programs. Pitt’s law school was ranked among the top 12 U.S. public law schools in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2013 (Law); placed in the top third in the nation in terms of graduates hired by major law firms in a recent report done by the National Law Journal; and its faculty ranked in the top 50 nationally in the most recent Sisk-Leiter Study of Law Faculty Impact. Additionally, in 2014, more than 90 percent of Pitt’s law graduates passed the Pennsylvania Bar Exam on their first attempt, the highest percentage among graduates from state-related Pennsylvania law schools. 

A noted scholar and an award-winning teacher, Carter specializes in constitutional law, civil rights law, civil litigation, international human rights law, and issues of social justice. He is widely considered to be one of the nation’s leading experts on the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. His legal scholarship has been published in such highly respected law journals as the Columbia Law Review, the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, the International Journal of Constitutional Law, and the UCLA Law Review. Carter has been previously honored with a 2014 Leadership Diversity Award from the National Diversity Council as well as a 2013 Diverse Attorney of the Year Award from The Legal Intelligencer.

Prior to arriving at Pitt, Carter served as a professor of law at Temple University Beasley School of Law and Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Upon graduation from law school, Carter practiced as a litigation associate in the Washington, D.C., offices of Ropes & Gray and Squire, Sanders, & Dempsey. 

Carter earned his bachelor’s degree at Bowling Green State University and his law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, graduating magna cum laude. While at Case Western Reserve University, he was elected to membership in the Order of the Coif and served as associate editor of the Case Western Reserve University Law Review. 

Established in 2008, Lawyers Of Color promotes the causes and contributions of attorneys from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. In addition to an eponymous blog, the organization produces e-newsletters, events, and social media platforms to engage legal professionals of all ethnicities. 

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