WASHINGTON, DC (March 22, 2012) — The National Bar Association (NBA), the nation’s oldest and largest association of African American attorneys and judges, has issued an urgent call for a review of Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' law following the death of 17-year old Trayvon Martin.

On February 26, Martin was gunned down after George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, shot and killed him after he claimed that the unarmed Martin came after him and he fired in self defense.

NBA President-Elect John E. Page stated, “The lack of any apparent justification under all disclosed information and circumstances should have led to the arrest of Mr. Zimmerman. All available evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, simply does not support the outcome here. Therefore, we join the call for the immediate arrest of Mr. Zimmerman to avoid additional harm to the public. The absence of an immediate arrest and interrogation of the known suspect to better develop the facts has left the public and parents of all children around the country outraged.”

Read the full letter here: http://www.nationalbar.org/sites/default/files/TrayvonMartin_0.pdf

The Palm Beach County offices of international law firm Greenberg Traurig, P.A. were selected by the Palm Beach County Bar Association's Committee for Diversity & Inclusion to receive the first annual Judge Edward Rodgers Diversity Award.  Palm Beach North office Administrative Shareholder Tracy L. Gerber and Shareholder Bridget A. Berry accepted the award on behalf of the firm at the 2012 Bench Bar Conference, which was attended by over 1000 lawyers, as well as judges from Palm Beach's County Court, the 15th Judicial Circuit, the 4th District Court of Appeal and Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente. 

The inaugural Diversity Award acknowledged Greenberg Traurig's commitment to diversity as reflected in its recruitment, retention and promotion of diverse individuals.  The Diversity Award also recognized the firm's commitment to the local Bar's diversity programs, its efforts to foster an inclusive and equitable work environment, and its participation in community outreach and engagement efforts designed to help those of diverse backgrounds enter and prosper in the legal field. 

Click here for more information.

Chicago-based law firm Butler Rubin Saltarelli & Boyd LLP has awarded its annual diversity scholarship to University of Chicago Law School student K. Alex Kiles. Kiles becomes the seventh recipient of Butler Rubin's annual scholarship focused on fostering diversity in the legal profession.

Kiles is currently a first-year law student and expects to receive his law degree in 2014. In addition to a $10,000 renewable scholarship for tuition and other expenses associated with law school, Kiles will work as a 2012 summer associate at Butler Rubin.

Congrats to Alex! You can read more here.

As reported by Law.Com, Ndidi Moses, an officer of the Connecticut Bar Association brought up the lack of diversity within the association.
Now the Connecticut Bar Association is creating a new effort designed to diversify the ranks of CBA leadership and CBA's president Keith Bradoc “Brad” Gallant reportedly thinks these changes are long overdue.

Click here for more information on this story.

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has just announced its 2011 scholarship recipients. JD Diversity congratulates all of the recipients of this prestigious honor.

Here's a list of the The 2011 Earl Warren Legal Training Program Scholarship Recipients:

And you can click here to view the press release.

This months' issue of Black Enterprise takes a look at what’s working—and what’s not—for women of color in the legal profession...

Excerpt:

THE LEGAL PROFESSION CONTINUES TO BE ONE OF THE MOST challenging industries for black women. Although studies, statistics, and personal testimonies show that female attorneys tend to fare better in corporate legal contexts than in law firm settings, even the corporate environment presents many familiar challenges, such as managing internal politics, finding appropriate and effective mentors, and attaining access to senior-level executives.

In a new study conducted by Corporate Counsel Women of Color (www.ccwomenofcolor.org), a support group for its more than 2,500 members who work for large corporations, these challenges are addressed. Through a Web-based survey and live audience testing at the organization’s fifh annual conference, The Perspective of Women of Color Attorneys in Corporate Legal Departments reports data from 1,300 female attorneys of color who were asked to reflect on their professional experiences in the workplace—ranging from promotional opportunities and barriers to advancement to comparisons between law firms and corporate settings.

We recommend that you pick up this month's issue for the full story. You can also click here to read a synopsis of the article by Sonia Alleyne.

A former stockroom worker for Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (A&F) sued the clothing retailer in federal court Monday, saying she was illegally fired after refusing to remove her Muslim headscarf while on the job.

Hani Khan said a manager at the company's Hillsdale Mall location (in San Mateo, CA) hired her while she was wearing her hijab. The manager said it was OK to wear it as long as it was in company colors. However, four months later a district manager and human resources manager asked if she could remove the hijab while working, and she was suspended and then fired for refusing to do so.

This is the latest employment discrimination charge against the company's so-called "look policy," which critics say means images of mostly white, young, athletic-looking people. However, A&F says that it does not tolerate discrimination.

Click here for the full story.

Legal community will gather today (Thursday) in Gary, Indiana to honor Hilbert Bradley . . .

When Hilbert L. Bradley returned to Indiana after being discharged from the Army, the World War II veteran decided he would take advantage of the G.I. Bill and apply for enrollment at Valparaiso University School of Law. It was 1947, a time when segregation was the unwritten "law." But Bradley received a surprise.

"They welcomed me right away," Bradley recalled. "And three years later, I was the first African-American graduate there."

Bradley went on to do great things with his law degree. In 1957, he lobbied Congress for the passage of the Civil Rights Bill. He marched in the 1963 March on Washington with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Poor People's March on Washington in 1968. Also during the 1960s, Bradley founded the Fair Share Organization to advocate equal employment opportunities for African-Americans. Bradley later went on to found the Indiana Coalition for Black Judicial Officials.

Read more about Bradley and his retirement here.

*The retirement dinner for lawyer and civil rights activist Hilbert Bradley. Will be held in Gary Indiana at: Avalon Manor, 3550 E. U.S. 30, Hobart at 6 p.m today.

Tickets are $50 each and are available at the McCain Law Offices, 5655 Broadway or via telephone at: 884-0696. 

Wondering how to firm up your firm's commitment to diversity? This article on Diversity-Executive.Com cites many good suggestions for law firms on how to quell attrition rates, and foster the type of environment in which minority attorneys can thrive. One line from the article:

"If a firm’s leadership is only willing to change to the extent needed to attain certain diversity numbers, diversity and inclusion values will remain separate from the firm’s culture. The business benefits of diversity cannot be the firm’s only motives. Solely relying on the “business case” for justification will not sustain momentum, nor will it hold up to detractors’ arguments over the long term."

Amen.

Click here to read the rest of the article. It offers a lot of good pointers.

Of course this is a multi-faceted issue. However, JD Diversity contends (and is founded on the premise that) diversity will never truly be realized within the profession unless there's an open and honest dialogue about minorities' experiences within the legal workplace. Unfortunately, the closest we ever seem to come to the type of candidness needed to forge progress is confined to legal complaints--like that filed against Mayer Brown by Venus Springs in May of 2009. In the complaint Ms. Springs noted issues like "assignment to an office away from her peers, [lack of] customary clerical, paralegal, and associate assistance, [lesser] training, [and] exclusion from client lunches."

However, elsewhere such honesty is woefully lacking. The conclusion we've drawn is that people (especially minorities) are afraid to be truthful about their experiences, as they seek to avoid adverse ramifications to their legal careers.  Therefore, such problems, rarely being brought to light, are never rectified.

JD Diversity seeks to quell such fears by encouraging associates and partners alike to be honest about the true barriers to diversity progress in the legal profession.

Let's talk about it.