For the first time in our industry’s history, the four leading legal organizations – the American Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, DRI and the National Bar Association – are led by Black lawyers.
This is a monumental moment for the legal industry and for each of us. We are beyond proud to preside over these professional organizations that do so much to educate, promote and advocate on behalf of lawyers, judges and others dedicated to jurisprudence.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
Yet we also begin our terms as president with a sobering understanding of what our elections mean in the bigger picture. The truth is, our achievement is a novelty, not a trend, and certainly not a sign that the legal industry has achieved meaningful diversity.
The nation’s law firms remain predominantly non-minority, and study after study has shown the percentages of minority attorneys are far smaller than those reflected in national demographics. As the ABA’s “Profile of the Legal Profession” in 2020 revealed, “nearly all people of color are underrepresented in the legal profession compared with their presence in the U.S. population.” For example, 5% of all lawyers are Black yet the U.S. population is 13.4% Black. Similarly, 5% of all lawyers are Hispanic although the population is 18.5% Hispanic. And 2% of all lawyers are Asian while the U.S. population is 5.9% Asian.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
Earlier this year, the ABA’s “Model Diversity Survey Report”, its first-ever report on diversity, equity and inclusion in law firm practice, concluded the industry has a diversity “bottleneck,” which has continued to result in law firm leadership being mostly white and male, and suffers from high rates of minority attrition. In fact, the survey report found the attrition rate for minority racial groups was two to three times higher than that of white lawyers.
These findings are reflected in conversations we have almost daily with other minority attorneys. Members of Atlanta’s Gate City Bar Association recently opined to us that they still feel like they don’t belong at their law firms, where there are so few faces of color that they often ask themselves, “Is there a place here for me?”
This question underscores how difficult it is for Blacks and other minorities to advance at law firms. There are few people who look like us, who want to share the wealth or knowledge with us, who want to give us a seat at the counsel’s table during trial or at the conference room table during settlement talks. Too often, we are the victims of a zero-sum game played by non-minority lawyers, who believe if they help us along the way, they will somehow lose out.
Our respective law firms have done the opposite of this, providing support and opportunities, and understanding that our success is their success. Sadly, this is not a widely held belief. As a result, the pipeline of minority attorneys is leaking badly. Law schools are still churning out minority graduates, but our numbers go down the further up in the profession we go, from junior associate to senior associate to non-equity partner to equity partner. Not even pressure from corporate clients to increase diversity has worked well, largely because of attrition and an ever-revolving door of minority attorneys who see no long-term future at their firms.
So, what can we, as presidents of two of the four major legal organizations, do to turn our novelty into a trend? At the American Association for Justice, our Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Academy continues to provide comprehensive training to members to prepare them to be leaders in AAJ, their law firms and their communities. And last month we launched a diversity pledge asking our members to act on the recruitment, retention and promotion of minority attorneys. Among the promises they will be asked to make is to make every effort to include at least one minority in every applicant pool, and we will provide resources to help achieve that goal.
In terms of retention, we will ask pledge signers to put retention policies in place, and support them by providing sample policies as well as making available to them on-site diversity trainers.
At DRI, which has been focused on diversity for more than 15 years, our centerpiece has been the annual Diversity for Success Seminar and Corporate Expo, an innovative program geared toward diverse attorneys, in-house counsel and law firm management. But we also are focused on equipping minority attorneys with soft skills needed to develop new clients and navigate law firms.
Of course, no matter what skills we provide an attorney of color, they will need help from someone within the law firm. Someone to provide opportunities, to not just attend a trial but to participate, to give them guidance on business development and law firm politics.
Our hope is that our ascension to the presidency of these prestigious bar organizations will someday be seen not as an exception, but as the rule in terms of what is possible for minority attorneys.
Douglas Burrell is president of DRI, an organization of civil defense attorneys and in-house legal counsel, and a partner at the law firm of Drew, Eckl and Farnham. Navan Ward is president of the American Association for Justice and a principal at the Beasley Allen Law Firm.
