Cornell Law Review

Racial Reckoning With Economic Inequities

Lisa M. Fairfax,  Alexander Hamilton Professor of Business Law, George Washington University School of Law

In response to the racial reckoning sparked by the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other unarmed Black men and women during the summer of 2020, many corporations publicly expressed their commitment to not only grapple with racial inequities in the economic sphere, but also increase racial diversity on their board, with particular…

Feb 2022

When Does The Bell Toll For Women’s Equality?

This year, the Cornell Law Review will host, When Does The Bell Toll For Women’s Equality?,  an online symposium that examines the political, economic, social, and legal status of women. The symposium makes interventions along the lines of sex, race, and class to understand the persistence of women’s inequality and invisibility at a critical juncture…

Sep 2020

Recent News & Events

Cornell Law Review, Issue 4

Cornell Law Review is proud to announce Vol. 105, Issue 4, with Articles and Essays exploring Tort as Private Administration; Justice Scalia’s Campaign Against Legislative History; Corporate Privacy; Product Liability Law; and Student Notes that explore the Racial Gap in Financial Services and a Crime-Fraud Exception to Executive Privilege. Thank you to our amazing authors for their outstanding collaboration and patience with us during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aug 2020

Note

Closing the Racial Gap in Financial Services: Balancing Algorithmic Opportunity with Legal Limitations

 Julia F. Hollreiser

This Note will explore the potential for financial institutions to use fintech to address race-based financial inequality while also being attentive to the possibility that seemingly innocuous technologies can generate biased banking practices against minority communities. Part I of this Note will discuss the history of the inequitable distribution of wealth in the United States and race-based gaps in access to financial services and products. Part II will then identify various techniques that financial institutions have used to target minority consumers. It will discuss the legality of those techniques under existing regulations, statutes, and case law. Part III of this Note will describe the role that algorithms, big data, and artificial intelligence have come to play in credit assessment and lending decisions, focusing on the risks inherent in algorithmic decision-making and the potential for these decisions to generate racially discriminate results. Part IV will then explore the opportunity for algorithmic lending in fintech to close the racial gap in financial services while still operating within the broader legal landscape.

May 2020