UMASS AMHERST — Anthony Paik, sociology, and Steve Boutcher, executive officer of the Law and Society Association and senior research fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research, are part of a team recently awarded a $511,000 grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund research examining diversity and networking in law school. Paik and Boutcher are joined on the project by lead principal investigator Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen, assistant professor of law and co-director of the Center for Empirical Research on the Legal Profession at University of California, Irvine School of Law, and co-principal investigator Carole Silver, professor of global law and practice at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. The researchers say that networking – the process of creating a professional support system of colleagues, mentors and connections – is a critical part of building a successful law career. While law students are encouraged to start growing their professional network in school, they say that students of diverse backgrounds – including race, gender, sexual orientation, national status or class – may not have the same access to “resource-rich” social networks. These “network inequalities” may impact the overall value of a legal education and lead to differences in career success after graduation.