DRI announces its annual Law Student Diversity Scholarship program, open to incoming second- and third-year African American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American students. The goal of these scholarships is to provide financial assistance to two worthy law students from ABA accredited law schools in order to promote, in a tangible way, the DRI Diversity Statement of Principle. Incoming second- and third-year female law students are also eligible, regardless of race or ethnicity. Incoming second- and third-year law students who also come from backgrounds that would add to the cause of diversity, regardless of race or gender are eligible to apply. To qualify for this scholarship, candidates must be full-time students. Evening students also qualify for consideration if they have completed one-third or more of the total credit hours required for a degree by the applicant’s law school. Two scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each will be awarded to applicants who best meet the following criteria:

• Demonstrated academic excellence
• Service to the profession
• Service to the community
• Service to the cause of diversity

Visit the DRI website for full details on eligibility and to download the scholarship application. 

A 2011 Midlevel Associates Survey conducted by The American Lawyer demonstrates that although the salary gap between minority and majority associates is closing, persistent differences continue to exist.  Hispanic associates reported the highest increase in their salary from 2008 to 2011, while Asian associates reported the highest salary and billing rates as compared to both their minority and majority counterparts, despite a decrease in their average salary.  Nonetheless, minority associates continue to rate job satisfaction categories lower than their majority counterparts. 

The survey also demonstrates that firms are making an effort to retain their minority associates.  Black and Hispanic associates were the most likely to report that they had mentors – 86.5 % and 83.1%, respectively.  Notwithstanding, all minorities thought that they had a lower chance of making partner than white associates.  Only 60% of Blacks, 63.7% of Asians and 68.4% of Hispanics thought that they were headed toward promotion.  How effective are these mentoring relationships when minority associates do not believe that they will reach the upper echelons of their firms?  What is the missing link between mentoring and retention/advancement of minority associates?  Has your firm employed innovative efforts to address the issue of advancement of minority attorneys?

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During his presidential campaign, President Obama expressed his desire to diversify the federal judiciary which is primarily comprised of white men.  As a result of his administration’s efforts, we have witnessed the first Hispanic sworn in to serve on the United States Supreme Court, the first openly gay man appointed to a federal district court and the first Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese women judicial nominees.  "Having racial diversity, gender diversity, experiential diversity — all of those things we are mindful of and committed to seeking out when we're looking for the best candidates," Kathryn Ruemmier, the new White House counsel, tells National Public Radio (NPR).  Almost half of the 97 candidates who have won confirmation during Obama's presidency are women and approximately a quarter are African-American. 

According to Ed Whelan, a prominent conservative who used to work in the Justice Department during George W. Bush’s administration, "The Obama administration doesn't have a coherent judicial philosophy so it's not surprising that it's falling back on diversity, which I think it sees among other things as appealing to its various political constituencies."  The notion that judges’ decision-making might be affected by their gender and race or ethnicity is incompatible to those who view "judging" as the objective disposition of cases without regard to judges' personal backgrounds, biases, attitudes, and ideologies.  However, research studies underscore the importance of diversity on the bench.  Is advancing judicial diversity a "coherent judicial policy"?  Should the face of justice be a reflection of all of us?

On July 1, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down Michigan’s controversial ban on consideration of race and gender in college admissions. The rationale of the 2-to-1 ruling was that the ban had the effect of denying political rights to minority citizens in Michigan.  The Court’s ruling is likely to renew the debate over affirmative action.
 
The term "affirmative action" was first introduced by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as a method of redressing discrimination that had persisted in spite of civil rights laws and constitutional guarantees.  Affirmative action policies required that active measures be taken to ensure that blacks and other minorities enjoyed the same opportunities for promotions, salary increases, career advancement, school admissions, scholarships, and financial aid that had been the nearly exclusive province of whites.  From the outset, affirmative action was envisioned as a temporary remedy that would end once there was a "level playing field" for all Americans.  By the late 1970s, however, flaws in the policy began to show up amid its good intentions.  Reverse discrimination became an issue, epitomized by the famous Bakke case in 1978.  The Supreme Court outlawed inflexible quota systems in affirmative action programs, which in this case had unfairly discriminated against a white applicant. In the same ruling, however, the Court upheld the legality of affirmative action per se.
 
In a landmark 2003 case involving the University of Michigan's affirmative action policies, the Supreme Court decisively upheld the right of affirmative action in higher education. Two cases, first tried in federal courts in 2000 and 2001, were involved: the University of Michigan's undergraduate program (Gratz v. Bollinger) and its law school (Grutter v. Bollinger).  The Supreme Court (5-4) upheld the University of Michigan Law School's policy, ruling that race can be one of many factors considered by colleges when selecting their students because it furthers "a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body."  The Supreme Court, however, ruled (6-3) that the more formulaic approach of the University of Michigan's undergraduate admissions program, which used a point system that rated students and awarded additional points to minorities, had to be modified.  The undergraduate program, unlike the law school's, did not provide the "individualized consideration" of applicants deemed necessary in previous Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action.
 
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who wrote for the majority in the University of Michigan Law School case, predicted, "The court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today."  We are 17 years away from the time when Justice O’Connor predicts that racial references will no longer be necessary, are we any closer to reaching that goal than we were in 1961 or 2003?  Have we achieved a level playing field for all Americans?  If not, how do we achieve this goal?

Law schools in Florida have struggled for years to attract more minorities in the legal profession.  Despite recruitment drives and other efforts to boost enrollment, minority enrollment numbers at some Florida colleges have remained stagnant or have fallen off.  The national Law School Admission Council recently reported the University of Florida's enrollment of Black law students enrollment at the University of Florida, the state’s largest public law school, dropped from the fall 2006 to fall 2010 by 10 percent.  Similarly, Hispanic enrollment fell by more than one-third at Florida A&M University’s law school from 2008 and 2010.  University of Florida officials believe that budgetary constraints are partly responsible for the decline in enrollment.  Data reported by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and Vault.com in the fall of 2010, substantiated fears that the effects of the recession would undo diversity gains achieved in the legal profession over the past decades.  Is the decline in minority enrollment being experienced by Florida laws schools a trickledown effect of the economy or are there other factors effecting law school enrollment?

The percentage of minority attorneys in big firms increased by 0.2 percent, to 13.9 percent, in 2010 according The American Lawyer’s Diversity Scorecard.  The increase, while small, is noteworthy because it curbs the decreases experienced in 2009 for the first time in the decade since these numbers have been collected.  The American Lawyer reports, “The fall in diversity seen in last year's Scorecard came after large law firms shed 6 percent of their lawyers in the depths of the recession, including 9 percent of their minority lawyers. This year, even though overall attorney head count continued to drop--slightly--the number of minority lawyers rose.”  Diversity proponents are hopeful that the drop in diversity is a one-year phenomenon.  “The loss of minority attorneys during the recession set in motion industry-wide initiatives to reemphasize diversity,” according to E. Christopher Johnson, Jr., a Thomas M. Cooley Law School professor.  In addition, firms have turned to lateral hiring  to boost their minority ranks.  Did your firm experienced a similar increase in minority attorneys in 2010?  Likewise, has your firm employed lateral hiring to increase the number of minority attorneys?

Despite significant progress for women in the legal profession, there are some differences in the way men and women are expected to behave that may not change until societal norms and expectations change as a whole.  In a recent article in the ABA Journal, Justice Sotomayor provided some thoughts about the differing expectations of male and female judicial candidates  She remarked that she was offended by some of the questioning that took place during her confirmation hearings, especially questions related to her dating history.  Her dating history was a hot topic because Justice Sotomayor has been divorced since 1983 and never remarried.  For a male federal court judge that fact may not matter.  But for a female judge this fact along with who you have dated, how often, and who you choose to bring to public events easily becomes a source of scrutiny. 

It’s a classic double standard that is unfortunate and unfair.  Proposing a ban on personal questions in confirmation hearings and interviews is probably not enough to change things because you can’t stop people from making assumptions about a woman’s professional ability based on her behaviors in her personal life.  Personal opinions, assumptions and expectations are bred into us through society and the media – many on a subconscious level.  Ultimately, societal and cultural views would have to change before women can feel free to act in the same manner as men without the worry that they will risk their professional reputations.  Whether that can happen depends a lot on those with the power to shape the parameters of what is or is not acceptable within their own offices and professions – be that law partners or politicians. 

Data reported by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and Vault.com in the fall of 2010, substantiated fears that the effects of the recession would undo diversity gains achieved in the legal profession over the past decades.  Similarly, a recent report issued by the New York City Bar documents a slippage of hard-won diversity gains last year at local law firms.  The city bar surveyed firms that are signatories to a 2004 statement of diversity principles that articulated both short-term and long-term goals related to the hiring, retention and promotion of diverse attorneys.  The survey found that for the first time since March 2004, the percentage of minorities and women had declined at almost all levels.  Further, the report noted that if the pace of change is not accelerated, the share of minorities holding partnerships would not equal their representation among associates for 40 years and, for women attorneys, it would take 50 years to catch up.  While the report suggests that recent declines are likely related to the recession, it also noted that the voluntary turnover rate has been consistently higher for minority and women attorneys thus highlighting that retention remains a key problem.
 
The recession has challenged law firms to be innovative and to leverage simple changes in billing into new business and higher revenue.  What innovations has your law firm implemented to stretch diversity dollars to avoid suppressing the effort and momentum that has been built over the past decades? 
 
Good business sense dictates that, in a weak economy, diversity efforts must be part of a firm's long-range plans.  The global economy is diverse and those firms that realize this fact can maximize the talents and skills that their diverse attorneys bring to the table to add to their bottom lines.  What best practices has your firm implemented (either formal or informal) to retain diverse attorneys?

The issue of the lack of racial diversity in the National Hockey League (“NHL”) is not a new one, but with the filing of a new lawsuit in California on January 25, 2011, it appears that the NHL may have other discrimination issues to worry about as well.  Jason Bailey, a Jewish hockey player drafted by the Anaheim Ducks and assigned to play with their minor league affiliate the Bakersfield Condors, is suing the Ducks for religious discrimination and failure to prevent harassment.  According to the Orange County Register, Bailey’s Complaint alleges that he was subject to severe harassment from both the Condors’ head coach and assistant head coach relating to his religious beliefs.  In response to Bailey’s complaints about the harassment, both coaches were briefly suspended and made to write letters of apology, a penalty that Bailey alleges was not stiff enough.  Bailey was subsequently traded by Anaheim to the Ottawa Senators organization where he plays for their minor league affiliate, the Birmingham Senators.  Both coaches remain with the Condors although the Ducks cut their ties with the team last year.

The current recession is drying up monies for diversity initiatives and creating downsizing and cutbacks that many feared would disproportionately impact diversity in the legal profession.  Recent data reported by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and Vault.com substantiates fears that the effects of the recession would undo the gains seen over the past decades.  For the first time in seven years, the percentage of minority equity partners remained virtually stagnant while there was a small increase in minority non-equity partners – from 8.5% in 2008 to 9% in 2009.  The percentage of minorities hired by law firms at all levels in 2009 was 19%, compared to nearly 22% in 2008.  Meanwhile, minority attorneys left their firms at higher numbers in 2009.  Minority attorneys represented 13.4% of the attorneys at the firms surveyed, but accounted for nearly 21% of those leaving during 2009.

Aspirations to improve diversity in the legal profession must evolve to reflect changes in our society and recognize economic constraints.  Will the current trend have a long-term impact on diversity in the legal profession?  What innovations has your law firm implemented to stretch diversity dollars to avoid suppressing the effort and momentum that has been built over the past decades?  Does your firm’s budget reflect its diversity values and priorities?

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