September 2006

Increasing Diversity in the Legal Profession: A Collaboration

by Angelique M. Davis and Joslyn K.N. Donlin

"Equal Justice for All" is the inscription above the entrance to the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet 52 years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the legal profession lags behind in reflecting the diversity of our country.1 Racial and ethnic minorities comprise approximately 30 percent of the U.S. population. However, they represent less than 15 percent of the practicing attorneys in this country.2 In the state of Washington, racial and ethnic minorities make up 25 percent of the population.3 The number of minority practicing attorneys is about 10 percent.4  The ABA's Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Legal Profession reports that the current rate of minorities entering the legal profession has slowed considerably since the mid-90s.5 This decline can be attributed to disparities in the education of minority youth, barriers to entry into the profession, and the failure of the profession to adequately address this issue.

It is widely recognized that by the year 2050 the United States will be "majority minority."6 However, the percentage of minority lawyers is the second lowest of all the professions, at 9.7 percent as compared to accountants/auditors (20.8 percent), architects (14.9 percent), chief executives (9.5 percent), civil engineers (16.7 percent), clergy (16.2 percent), computer scientists (23.1 percent), dentists (15.9 percent), economists (20.3 percent), managers (16.2 percent), mechanical engineers (14.5 percent), news analysts/reporters (15.6 percent), physical scientists (30.6 percent), physicians/surgeons (24.6 percent), post-secondary teachers (18.2 percent), and psychologists (9.3 percent).7

With the changing demographics of our country, diversity in the legal profession is a business necessity.8 In addition, greater diversification has tangible benefits for the legal profession through an increased applicant pool, the ability to meet the demands of clients seeking diverse representation, and higher revenues.9 Indeed, corporations have launched diversity initiatives evaluating the diversity of the law firms they hire, retain, and grade on their efforts to hire, retain, and advance women and minorities.10

In addition to being a business necessity, diversity in the legal profession is essential to our democracy.11 Our democratic system depends upon our ability to stand in the gap for those who cannot speak for themselves. For it to thrive, lawyers, who are gatekeepers to justice, must be reflective of the citizens they serve.12

Statewide Conference on Diversity

To address this need, the 2006 Statewide Conference on Diversity — Getting Ahead and Giving Back: Diversity in Washington's Legal Community — was held on June 2, at Seattle University. It was the first collaborative effort of the various state minority bar associations to address the need to increase diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.13 Dean Kellye Testy of Seattle University School of Law, and Sudha Shetty, director of the Access to Justice Program at Seattle University, were instrumental in securing the venue for the conference. The minority bar associations and members of the conference planning committee were led by co-chairs Kim Tran, president of the Asian Bar Association of Washington and an attorney with Stafford Frey Cooper, and Michael Heath, president of the GLBT Bar Association of Washington (QLaw) and an attorney with Cairncross & Hempelmann. The minority bar associations, partnered with Seattle University, the WSBA, the King County Bar Association, and the King County Bar Foundation, assembled a stellar program agenda and a high-caliber and diverse group of speakers to discuss the goals of the conference: 1) to increase diversity in the legal profession; 2) to emphasize the benefits of having a diverse legal workforce; and 3) to give back to the legal community and the community at large. More than 250 lawyers from Arizona, California, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Oregon, Washington, D.C., as well as Washington state gathered to seek ways to increase diversity in the legal profession. Sponsors of the conference came from high-profile law firms, law schools, and lawyer associations.14

Conference Highlights 

The conference began with a lively plenary session focusing on “The Language of Us: A Discussion of How the Legal System Uses Labels and Why Understanding the Differences Between Labels Is Important to Judges, Lawyers, and Their Clients.” Panelists included a law school professor, a chief justice of the Colville Tribal Court of Appeals, a public defender from Yakima, an attorney from Lambda Legal in New York City, and a criminal defense attorney from Seattle.15 Each provided a different perspective of the importance of when and how to recognize various terms and labels within a particular diverse and/or ethnic or tribal community. Colville Tribal Court of Appeals Chief Justice Anita Dupris gave a remarkable oral argument about the use of the word “Indian” when referring to herself and her people as opposed to the term “Native American.”

Keynote luncheon speaker Col. William A. Gunn, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, captured the theme of the conference, "giving back," with an inspiring speech about his personal life journey of mentoring and community service. As an officer and staff attorney in the military, Col. Gunn also found time to serve as a mentor and volunteer for schools and churches wherever he was stationed.

Following both the plenary session and keynote address were a series of 15 breakout sessions. These sessions focused on building greater diversity in the legal profession, whether from the perspective of a solo practitioner, law firm attorney, corporate counsel, government attorney, immigration attorney, or judge. In addition, exhibitors and representatives from various community-based organizations staged a fair to offer opportunities for lawyers to give back to their community. After the day's sessions, a reception was held to honor all of the judges in Washington state who are diverse and/or who represent various minority groups.

Conference Feedback

Overall, feedback and conference evaluations reflected a very successful event. Co-chair Mike Heath, who is also graduate of the 2005 WSBA Leadership Institute,15 commented that: "[it] was a trailblazing event celebrating our diversity and an example of achievement in collaboration." Heath's co-chair, Kim Tran, also a graduate of the 2005 WSBA Leadership Institute, added, "This [conference] was truly a model for bar associations in other states to consider."

Other Washington Legal Community Diversity Events

The first annual Statewide Conference on Diversity in the Legal Profession was a historical collaborative event among the minority bar associations in promoting diversity within the state's legal community. It is also one part of a statewide trend toward increasing diversity in the legal profession. In 2005, Washington was one of four states awarded the prestigious ABA Partnership Award for its nationally acclaimed WSBA Leadership Institute. Paula Boggs, vice-president, general counsel, and secretary of Starbucks Coffee Company, was awarded the ABA 2006 Spirit of Excellence Award, for her contributions to recruit, retain, and promote diversity in the legal profession. The Celebrate Diversity event held in Seattle this past March was attended by more than 250 lawyers who listened to attorneys from law firms, corporations, government agencies, law schools, and the WSBA describe ways to increase diversity in the legal profession. Minority bar leaders also discussed strategies for increasing diversity in the legal community. Future events include: the National Latina/o Law Student Association Conference, October 12-14, 2006, in Seattle, and the first Eastern Washington Celebrate Diversity event on October 26, 2006, at Gonzaga University School of Law, in partnership with the Spokane County Bar Association, minority attorneys and judges from Eastern Washington, and the WSBA.

Planning for the second annual Statewide Conference on Diversity is currently underway. If you would like to be involved in the planning for the conference, please contact Kim Tran at ktran@staffordfrey.com or Mike Heath at mheath@cairncross.com.   

Angelique Davis is a visiting assistant professor and pre-law program director at Seattle University. She serves on the WSBA Committee for Diversity and was a fellow in the 2005 WSBA Leadership Institute. She is also a member of the Loren Miller Bar Association. Ms. Davis can be reached at adavis@seattleu.edu. Joslyn K.N. Donlin is the WSBA diversity advocate and can be reached at joslynd@wsba.org.

NOTES
 
1.  Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
 
2.  ABA Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity in the Profession, The Critical Need to Further Diversity in the Legal Academy & the Legal Profession (2005) [hereinafter "Critical Need"].
 
3.  Washington State Office of Financial Management, September 30, 2004, press release, "Washington Minority Population Growth Continues."
 
4.  WSBA membership demographic counts, as of 6/30/2006.
 
5.  Elizabeth Chambliss, Miles to Go: Progress of Minorities in the Legal Profession, Executive Summary (2004). Available from American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession.
 
6.  U.S. Glass Ceiling Commission (1995), A Solid Investment: Making Full Use of the Nation's Human Capital (Final Report of the Commission), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/120.
 
7.  Miles, supra note 4, at Table 2.
 
8.  Grutter, at 330.
 
9.  Id.; James W. Pearce & JoAnn S. Hickey & Debra D. Burke, "African Americans in Large Law Firms: The Possible Cost of Exclusion," 42 Howard Law Journal 59 (1998) (law firms with higher number of African-American associates in top 50 law firms found to have higher revenues); Roy S. Ginsburg, "Making the Case for Diversity: Improving the Representation of Women and Minority Lawyers in Your Law Firm May Enhance Your Business as More Clients Factor in Diversity When Choosing a Law Firm," 78 June Wisconsin Law 20 (2005) ("As stated in a study by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), 'Law firms that only pay lip service to diversity may pay a stiff economic price. Law firms that do not take diversity seriously are already losing money.'"); Dennis Archer, "The Value of Diversity: What the Legal Profession Must Do to Stay Ahead of the Curve," 12 Wash. U.J.L. & Pol'y 25, 27 (2003); see also David B. Wilkins, "From 'Separate is Inherently Unequal' to 'Diversity is Good for Business': The Rise of Market-Based Diversity Arguments and the Fate of the Black Corporate Bar," 117 Harvard Law Review. 1548 (2004).

10. Call to Action: Diversity in the Legal Profession located, http://www.mcca.com/CTA/-commitment.shtml; Maria Kantzavelos, "The Business Case for Diversity," The Chicago Lawyer (July 2006).
 
11. Grutter, 539 U.S. at 331-32. Justice O'Connor recognized that not only is diversity important to the legal profession, but also to our democracy.
 
12. Carrie Menkel-Meadow, "The Lawyer's Role(s) in Deliberative Democracy," 5 Nev. L.J. 347, 350-54 (2004-2005).
 
13.  Minority bar associations who sponsored the 2006 Statewide Conference on Diversity — Getting Ahead and Giving Back: Diversity in Washington's Legal Community — included: Asian Bar Association of Washington, GLBT Bar Association of Washington (Q-Law), Korean Bar Association of Washington, Latina/o Bar Association of Washington, Loren Miller Bar Association, Northwest Indian Bar Association, Pierce County Minority Bar Association, South Asian Bar Association of Washington, Vietnamese American Bar Association of Washington, and Washington Women Lawyers.

14. Gold Sponsors included: Cairncross & Hempelmann, P.S.; Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP; Dorsey & Whitney, LLP; King County Bar Association; Lane Powell; Miller Nash, LLP, Preston Gates Ellis, LLP; Microsoft; Stoel Rives, LLP; Stafford Frey Cooper; Stokes Lawrence; Summit Law Group; Williams, Kastner & Gibbs, PLLC; and University of Washington School of Law.  Silver Sponsors included Schroeter Goldmark & Bender.  Bronze sponsors included: Forsberg Umlauf, P.S.; Gonzaga University School of Law; Ogden Murphy Wallace, PLLC; Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt; and Washington State Trial Lawyers Association.
 
15. Moderator of the Plenary Session was Dean Kellye Testy, Seattle University School of Law, Seattle, WA. Speakers of the Plenary Session were: Professor Maggie Chon, Seattle University School of Law, Seattle, WA; Alphonso David, Lambda Legal, New York, NY; Chief Justice Anita Dupris, Colville Tribal Court of Appeals, Colville, WA; Rafael Gonzales, Associated Counsel for the Accused, Yakima, WA; and Jeffery Robinson, Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, Seattle, WA.