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Brian Gilmore is a poet and public interest attorney and contributing writer with Ebony-Jet Online.
He is also a columnist with the Progressive Media Project.
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| Black Lawyers Inc. #1 |
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I am serious.  This is not an attack on lawyers who are white or of European descent. It is just the facts. There is room for African-American lawyers in the U.S. and we(African-Americans) should encourage and support such a notion. African-Americans are 13 percent of the United States population. But according to statistics, they comprise only 3 percent of all lawyers, in the United States. This is abysmal. The number of African-Americans at the large firms in the United States is low as well, something that hasn’t changed in years. Years ago, I did research on the topic and the numbers were horrific. A lot of factors historically have caused this to happen; African-Americans have had to fight to be able to study at certain law schools and to become members of bar associations are two of the biggest. And relationships at firms lead to jobs. Yet, at the beginning of this, I said that there is a need for more African-American lawyers and it is true. Why? The current foreclosure crisis where it is clear that African-Americans were targeted by financial institutions with default prone mortgage products is an area of legal practice where African-American lawyers can make a mark. In the coming years as the facts continue to evolve; it is likely that the racial element to the subprime crisis will be revealed. African-American lawyers, as much as they are able, can step in and take on this fight. They can also step in and demand reform in the financial services system. In addition, while it might seem depressing, African-Americans are disproportionately entangled with the criminal justice system. They could surely use some zealous advocacy in attempting to avoid serious jail time or any jail time at all. Black lawyers understand this (at least some of them). Moreover, in general, African-Americans are confronting a precarious time on a whole host of issues. Lawyers who understand this reality might be better equipped to assist them with these problems. So don’t listen to the madness that there are too many lawyers. There might be but not African-Americans and probably not lawyers of color, in general. No offense to anyone, but I just don’t agree with that one. We will explore that notion further in this space. |
There might be too many lawyers in the U.S. (who knows) But one thing is clear, there are not too many lawyers of color in the U.S.