I often repeat a story that I have purloined from my colleague and good friend, Judge Timothy K. Lewis. He recounts a tale about a meeting of partners at a large New York “white shoe” law firm. Sitting around a conference table they were lamenting their efforts to increase diversity at the firm. One of the partners exclaimed “why can’t we find someone like Barack Obama,” which drew an immediate retort, “what are you talking about, none of us is like Barack Obama.”

Indeed, none of them were like the former president of the United States, who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and was the editor-in-chief of its Law Review.