Columbus School of Law

The answer appears to be yes, according to an extraordinary panel of experts invited to discuss the problem and what can be done to address it at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law on March 25, 2011.

 

“Pursuing Diversity in the New Economy: A Shared Responsibility” brought together diverse legal professionals from the corporate, law firm and academic worlds to share perspectives, data, and anecdotes about the reality that confronts many African-American and Mexican-American attorneys today, especially junior associates.

 

 

         
 

The tone was set by the moderator of the day’s first panel, titled “Diversity by Design: The Corporate Perspective.”

 

“If this was a panel about corporate mergers and acquisitions, I’d likely be looking out at a very different room,” remarked Juliane Balliro, a partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, referring to the number of minority law students and other conference attendees in the audience.

 

After a long period of steady increases in minority representation within the legal profession, recent surveys of law firms reveal a slight decrease between 2009 and 2010 in overall minority representation. Commentators agree the decline is due in part to the recession and massive attorney layoffs which followed.

 

But most panelists did not believe that a firm’s balance sheet explained everything.  

 

“People who are on the fringe, who are going to get mowed down by the weed whacker, are more likely than not to be African-American associates,” said Ernest A. Tuckett,(left) corporate counsel for DuPont Legal.

 

Why are lawyers from underrepresented groups at higher risk for layoff in a down economy? Experts cited lack of mentoring and an old boy network mentality that will not die.

 

“Sink or swim doesn’t support those whose arms get tired,” said Veta Richardson, executive director of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. “The life jacket gets thrown to those who reflect the majority culture.”

 

The dismaying decline in minority representation comes on the heels of “A Call to Action,” a diversity initiative launched in 2004 that was championed by many of the nation’s largest corporations.

 

Call to Action urged corporate general counsels to drive diversity by demanding results in the law firms with which they work as well as within their departments. More than 120 prominent general counsels made the commitment to do so.

 

 

The morning’s second panel, “The Law Firm Challenge: Refocusing on Diversity after the Downturn,” identified many of the same problems as those that face minority attorneys in corporate settings.

 

Monica G. Parham, diversity counsel for Crowell & Moring LLP, said too many firms invest too little in the career development of their younger employees, a problem that is not necessarily racial in nature but that nonetheless affects minority attorneys more than their majority colleagues.

 

“People have to be mentored. They don’t come to law firms mysteriously knowing how to succeed,” she said. Will law firm senior partners get the message? “You are trying to change the minds of people for whom the system has worked,” said Parham.

 

The demographics of America are changing at a faster rate than is reflected in the legal profession, according to Michael Olivas, the 2011 president of the Association of American Law Schools, professor of law and director, Institute of Higher Education Law and Governance, University of Houston Law Center.

 

His luncheon keynote address noted the sharp rise in the nation’s Hispanic population, a statistic not reflected in their graduation rates from law school. Olivas noted an 11.7% decrease in the proportion of Mexican Americans in the 2008 class as compared with the proportion 15 years earlier.

 

The irony is that there are more seats in America’s law schools than ever before, an increase of 8,500 in the past ten years. Guests on the symposium’s final panel, “A Shared Responsibility: The Critical Role Law Schools Play in Reversing the Trend,” grappled with ways to attract and matriculate an increasing number of minority students.

 

Panelists discussed the pressure of law school rankings, which do not weigh diversity, as well as issues like the availability of financial aid.

 

There was consensus from all discussants that diversity must be understood as a “shared responsibility” among corporations, law firms, and law schools.

 

 

Benjamin F. Wilson, (above) managing principal of Beveridge & Diamond, P.C., in Washington, D.C. spoke for many by saying “the future is in our hands. We have every opportunity to make it as we wish.”

 

“Pursuing Diversity in the New Economy: A Shared Responsibility,” was reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education and Legal BisNow, among other media outlets.