I haven’t been out with the protesters. You know I am old, which automatically puts me in the high-risk category. Plus, I have an autoimmune disorder … Strike Two! If I put a knee down for even a minute, it would be ugly. Getting old is not for sissies, but at least I have had the chance to grow old, which is more than can be said for George Floyd.
If you have ever read any of my rants on diversity and inclusion — and there have been a fair number of those over the years — now is the time to redouble our profession’s efforts. We have not been at the forefront. I don’t care what other professions or businesses have done or not done. I care about what we, as lawyers, have done and have not done. Does anyone else see the irony that a profession purportedly dedicated to justice and fairness has been dragging its heels on making us look more like what this country and certainly my state look like?
These two examples show we have a long way to go: this Wisconsin lawyer needs a refresher in common courtesy to both protesters and police these days. The lawyer should pay for coronavirus test for the protester. Spitting at someone is never cool, especially now. Disciplinary charges are pending, as well they should.
Remember “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?” Au contraire. Which is worse? Spitting and assaulting or lawyers who think that words never hurt? What is wrong with us? I know we’re only a microcosm of the society at large, but really?
It’s not just diversifying legal practice but legal tech as well. As Bob Ambrogi notes in his blog, one aspect to increasing diversity is for consumers to buy products from diverse vendors, not just the same old, same old. It’s not different really than trying to get that first break in whatever career or trying to become a member of a union that requires a certain number of gigs before membership. Sometimes that first break is all that is needed. We all had one, didn’t we? Or if we didn’t, we should have had.
It’s no different in the legal profession. It’s an opportunity, the hand up that allows people the chance to show what they can do. How will COVID-19 affect efforts to diversify the profession? Since the profession’s response so far to diversity and inclusion efforts has been “meh,” I wonder if the pandemic will give the profession cover to not increase those efforts.
As if this is any indication, African-American applicants to law school are down.
This is not what we should want to see.
Even when African-Americans pass the bar, they don’t have the same career opportunities or opportunities for advancement. Black attorneys make up less than four percent of the lawyers in Biglaw, and barely over two percent of partners in the AmLaw 200. African-Americans compose 13 percent of the general population.
We lawyers speak out against injustice for our clients, arguing (or blustering or whining, whatever works) something is unjust or unfair. But we don’t seem to have much of a voice when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Why is that? And please don’t tell me it’s the clients that drive the decision as to who staffs a case. That should be our call, not the clients, but we often wimp out because it’s a “good client” that we don’t want to lose.
General counsel must share in that metaphorical knee to the neck. Donald Prophete’s opinion is worth the read.
So, it’s one thing to call for change, but it’s another thing altogether to make change happen? How do we do that? How do we improve our profession so that it looks more like this country demographically? How do we increase the pipeline of African-Americans who want to become lawyers but find barriers at every turn?
The experiences of a female African-American associate at a Biglaw firm explain how difficult professional life can be.
Women associates have a hard-enough time, but layer on the additional factor of being black, and it’s much worse.
Corporate America promises to do better, but that’s been heard before, again and again, ad nauseam. As a recent article in the New York Times pointed out, it’s not just criminal justice that needs attention, but economic justice. Whatever happened to the Occupy movement a decade ago protesting economic inequality?
Biglaw has trumpeted its commitment to racial justice, to stamping out racism. ATL has collected statements from approximately 60 law firms. So, how will those words translate into action a year or two from now? Will the needle have risen on the number of black lawyers in Biglaw? Will there be any more black partners? Any more black senior partners?
What steps will firms and corporations take to increase the number of black lawyers, the number of black law students? Any more black general counsels? Any more black lawyers in corporate legal departments? Any more black law school graduates? Talk has always been cheap. The legal world should not go back to business as usual. It shouldn’t but will it? All the firms’ statements are variation on the same theme that racism is evil and should be eradicated. What changes do firms and corporate legal departments intend to make? How will we know about them? And what will happen if changes are not made?
Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at oldladylawyer@gmail.com.