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Research ArticleIII. Strategic Adaptation, Variants, and Limitations
Open Access

The “Bamboo Ceiling” in Law: Asian American Perceptions of Inequality in the Legal Profession

Shih-Chun “Steven” Chien, Goodwin Liu, Ajay K. Mehrotra
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences June 2026, 12 (3) 211-233; DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2026.12.3.10
Shih-Chun “Steven” Chien
aAssociate professor of law at William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and affiliated scholar at the American Bar Foundation, Chicago, United States
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Goodwin Liu
bAssociate Justice of the California Supreme Court and affiliated scholar at the American Bar Foundation, Chicago, United States
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Ajay K. Mehrotra
cProfessor of law and history at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and research professor at the American Bar Foundation, Chicago, United States
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  • ORCID record for Ajay K. Mehrotra
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  • Barriers to Career Advancement, 2016 and 2022 Survey Responses Source: Chung et al. 2017; Dang et al. 2022.
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    Figure 1.

    Barriers to Career Advancement, 2016 and 2022 Survey Responses

    Source: Chung et al. 2017; Dang et al. 2022.

  • Traits Associated with Asian American Lawyers, 2016 and 2022 Surveys Source: Chung et al. 2017; Dang et al. 2022.
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    Figure 2.

    Traits Associated with Asian American Lawyers, 2016 and 2022 Surveys

    Source: Chung et al. 2017; Dang et al. 2022.

Additional Files

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  • Chien Focus Group Script

    Chien Focus Group Script

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    Chien PP1_Survey

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RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences: 12 (3)
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
Vol. 12, Issue 3
1 Jun 2026
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The “Bamboo Ceiling” in Law: Asian American Perceptions of Inequality in the Legal Profession
Shih-Chun “Steven” Chien, Goodwin Liu, Ajay K. Mehrotra
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Jun 2026, 12 (3) 211-233; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2026.12.3.10

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The “Bamboo Ceiling” in Law: Asian American Perceptions of Inequality in the Legal Profession
Shih-Chun “Steven” Chien, Goodwin Liu, Ajay K. Mehrotra
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Jun 2026, 12 (3) 211-233; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2026.12.3.10
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More in this TOC Section

  • Betting on Business: How Family Wealth and Ethnic Capital Shape Choices and Constraints for Chinese Americans’ Entrepreneurial Pathways
  • The Shift to Stock-Based Compensation and the Asian American–White Pay Gap Revisited
Show more III. Strategic Adaptation, Variants, and Limitations

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Keywords

  • diversity
  • Asian Americans
  • American legal profession
  • race
  • gender
  • workplace inequality

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