A Commitment to, and Investment in, a Universally Better Profession

by WSBA President Mark Johnson

French Renaissance essayist and philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) wrote: “There were never in the world two opinions alike, no more than two hairs or grains; the most universal quality is diversity.” While diversity may be a universal characteristic of belief, it is not so with the legal profession.

The WSBA collects, on a voluntary basis, information on the gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability status of our members. As of November 11, 2008, the available information on the ethnicity of WSBA’s 32,939 members showed that of the 23,975 members who chose to provide the information (8,964 declined), 21,603 self-identified as Caucasian (90 percent). 400 members identified as being a sexual minority, 489 as having a disability, and, of the 25,321 who responded to the question on gender, 15,908 identified as male (63 percent) and 9,413 as female (37 percent).(1)

GR 12.1(a)(6), adopted by the Supreme Court, provides that one of the purposes of the WSBA is to strive to “promote diversity and equality in the courts, the legal profession and the bar.” (The language from GR12.1 is also incorporated into the WSBA Bylaws.) In addition, one of the WSBA’s Guiding Principles, as adopted by the Board of Governors, mandates that we work to “…promote diversity, equality and cultural understanding throughout the legal community….”

The WSBA is committed to fulfilling the charge of our Supreme Court and our guiding principle; Washington is one of only a few states with a full-time diversity program manager and one of two states that test Indian law on the bar exam. The WSBA Leadership Institute (WLI), an intensive professional leadership skills-training program for newer lawyers from diverse backgrounds, has won multiple awards; very few bar associations have such a program. The WSBA is also a sponsor of the annual statewide diversity conference.

The WSBA has a highly energized Committee for Diversity, whose mission statement is to “…increase diversity within the membership and leadership of the WSBA; to promote opportunities for appointment or election of members to the bench; to support and encourage opportunities for minority attorneys; to aggressively pursue employment opportunities for minorities; and to raise awareness of the benefits of diversity.” Two WSBA governors, Brenda Williams and Lori Haskell, are liaised to the committee. The WSBA Board of Governors also has a Diversity Committee, chaired by Governor Williams.

Two of the 14 seats on the WSBA Board of Governors are reserved for lawyers who “…have the experience and knowledge of the needs of those lawyers whose membership is or may be historically underrepresented in governance… Under-representation and diversity may be based upon the discretionary determination of the Board of Governors at the time of the election of any at-large governor to include, but not be limited to age, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, geography, areas and types of practice, and years of membership, provided that no single factor shall be determinative.” (See WSBA Bylaw III N.)

The WSBA’s website has a diversity webpage (www.wsba.org/wsbadiversity.htm) which provides information regarding minority and specialty bar leadership, links to the minority and specialty bar websites, information about diversity events, information about the WLI, and other resources germane to diversity.

For the current fiscal year, October 1, 2008–September 30, 2009, the WSBA’s budget will approach 20 million dollars. The cost for all diversity-related programs will be approximately $300,000, an estimate which includes both direct costs and indirect costs (a proportionate allocation of salary, benefits, and overhead).

With the kick-off event for the Middle Eastern Legal Association (MELAW) at Seattle University School of Law on January 30, Washington will have 16 minority bar associations. For a complete list to the officers of, and links to, the minority bar associations, go to www.wsba.org/lawyers/links/minoritybarassoc.htm.

Although the WSBA’s diversity programming is on the leading edge nationally and we have a vibrant and growing minority bar community, the reality revealed by the available demographic information is that our profession is still largely white and male. As a result, the public we serve is being denied varied and valuable perspectives, and numerous skills. Achieving a fairly diverse profession will require us to continue to invest in our commitment and commit to continued investment. 

WSBA President Mark Johnson can be reached at 206-386-5566 or mark@johnsonflora.com.

 1.  Providing ethnicity and gender information to the WSBA is voluntary. These statistics are based on 73 percent of WSBA members reporting ethnicity and 78 percent reporting gender.