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30 Legal Educ. Rev. 1 (2020)

handle is hein.journals/legedr30 and id is 1 raw text is: INBREEDING AND THE REPRODUCTION
OF ELITISM: AN EMPIRICAL
EXAMINATION OF INBREEDING WITHIN
AUSTRALIAN LEGAL ACADEMIA
ANGELA MELVILLE*, AMY BARROW**, PATRICK MORGAN*
I    INTRODUCTION
Academic inbreeding refers to the practice of universities hiring
their own graduates. Academic inbreeding is not uncommon; in fact, it
is so commonplace that it is considered standard practice in some
countries and disciplines.1 For some universities and disciplines, a high
level of academic inbreeding is a point of pride as it reflects the ability
to retain the highest quality academic talent. 2 However, the few
empirical studies that have focused on academic inbreeding show that
it is highly problematic.3 Academic inbreeding stifles diversity, and by
doing so, reduces innovation, lowers productivity,4 and in law schools,
maintains and reproduces elitism which then flows into the profession.'
Most studies on academic inbreeding have been conducted in the
US, and only three have explicitly focused on inbreeding in law
schools.6 This paper provides an empirical analysis of the extent,
characteristics and effects of different types of inbreeding among 700
College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University
Law School, Macquarie University
Philip Altbach, Maria Yudkevich, and Laura Rumbley, 'Academic Inbreeding:
Local Challenge, Global Problem' in Philip Altbach, Maria Yudkevich and
Laura Rumbley (eds) Academic Inbreeding and Mobility in Higher Education:
Global Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) 1; Elizaveta Sivak and Maria
Yudkevich, 'Academic Immobility and Inbreeding in Russian Universities' in
Philip Altbach, Maria Yudkevich and Laura Rumbley (eds), Academic
Inbreeding and Mobility in Higher Education: Global Perspectives (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2015) 130.
2 Altbach, Yudkevich and Rumbley, Academic Inbreeding and Mobility in
Higher Education (n 1) 1.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid; Xavier Bosch, 'Spain Reconsiders its University Reform Law' (2006) 314
(5801) Science 911; Altbach, Yudkevich and Rumbley, Academic Inbreeding
and Mobility in Higher Education (n 1) 130; Ding Yimin and Xiong Lei, 'An
End to Business as Usual?' (2003) 302(5642) Science 43.
5 See, eg, Paul Campos, 'Legal Academia and the Blindness of the Elites' (2014)
37 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 179.
6 See, eg, Theodore Eisenberg and Martin Wells, 'Inbreeding in Law School
Hiring: Assessing the Performance of Faculty Hired from Within' (2000) 29(1)
The Journal of Legal Studies 369; Donna Fossum. 'Law Professors: A Profile
of the Teaching Branch of the Legal Profession' (1980) 5(3) Law & Social
Inquiry 501.

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