Diversity

Many female attorneys would answer that question with a resounding yes and remind their male, and female, counterparts that the "old boys club" bias in the legal sector remains, despite the significant and obvious advances in the legal profession that have resulted in a more level playing field. Unfortunately, the statistics measuring gender disparity in the legal profession demonstrate that these female attorneys may be correct in perceiving that the "club" exists in full force. This should be surprising given that today females have attained some of the ultimate and most revered positions in the law.  One can look no further then the United States Supreme Court to see the shards of a shattered glass ceiling around the feet of Justices Sotomayor and Kagan. Indeed, in Connecticut, a female chief justice, the Honorable Chase Rogers, leads the State Supreme Court. Yet the gender gap still exists even though law school graduation rates of males and females have nearly equaled and the number of male and female first-year associates at law firms has grown closer together. Despite that, the number of female attorneys in proportion to the number of male attorneys becomes less and less as attorneys progress in their careers.

Go to any large law firm's website and inevitably you will find a tab that says "Diversity."  Click on it.  You will find a statement about how the firm has made diversity a core value, recruits from diverse groups of individuals, is responsive to clients' demands to see a colorful palette of lawyers working for them, and provides a path to promotion for individuals in those diverse groups.

Transforming rhetoric into reality is no easy task. Yet, the Consortium for Advancing Women Lawyers is meeting this challenge by providing a solid foundation for combining the power, drive, innovative thinking, problem solving skills and resources of thought leaders across the country in developing and accelerating initiatives to advance women lawyers. This article will provide an overview on the Consortium for Advancing Women Lawyers based on an interview with Linda Bray Chanow, the Executive Director of the Center for Women in Law at The University of Texas School of Law.

Over the years, housing discrimination has evolved throughout the United States and has recently contributed to the decline in our economy. The most recent form of housing discrimination is reverse redlining, the act "of targeting particular communities for abusive lending practices." Susan E. Hauser, Predatory Lending, Passive Judicial Activism, and the Duty to Decide, 86 N.C. L. Rev. 1501, 1509 n.39 (2008). Such abusive lending practices range from giving high cost adjustable rate mortgages and credit based on unfair terms, to incorporating illegal and fraudulent loan provisions. Social Investment Forum, Community Investing 1 (2011), http://ussif.org/projects/communityinvesting.cfm; S. Rep. No. 103-69, at 21 (1994), as reprinted in 1994 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1881, 1905. Subprime loans, which fall within this category of predatory lending practices, consists of higher priced loans made to borrowers who have less than prime credit records. Raymond H. Brescia, Subprime Communities, 2 Alb. Government L. Rev., 164, 179 (2009), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1337729. These loans, which charge borrowers above-market rates, are often targeted at the minority population. Id. at 166. Such practices have created a subprime crisis, an unwelcome contribution to the current economic state.

Cases can be won and lost on voir dire. Success in jury selection relies on an attorney's interpersonal skills, mainly an attorney's ability to stand in front of a group of strangers and convince them that he or she is to be trusted.

While jurors are influenced by external factors such as knowledge of the case. More important are the internal factors, including their own past experiences and psychology. Internal factors are not only highly influential, but are also immeasurable, as the jurors themselves typically cannot explain their influence nor are they even aware of those influences. As a result, these internal factors are all too often overlooked.

I am honored to have been selected as the 2010 DRI Diversity Scholarship recipient. This Scholarship has been a source of personal satisfaction and continues to contribute toward my professional growth.

Applying for the DRI Diversity Scholarship

I first learned about the DRI Diversity Scholarship in March 2010 from Pam Dickson at Cranfill Sumner and Hartzog LLP. Cranfill had hired me as a summer clerk. Pam is the recruitment director at Cranfill Sumner and Hartzog and an active member of the firm's diversity committee. She forwarded me the DRI scholarship flyer and encouraged me to apply. Initially, I was intimidated by the fact that it was a national scholarship and I had doubts about my chances of selection. However, with the cost of law school rising yearly, the $10,000 scholarship award was a fair amount of motivation. The application and essay submission were sufficiently challenging, without being excessively tedious and time consuming.

Even to the casual observer, an organization's commitment to its core values should be obvious. Indeed, an organization's failure to adhere to its own core values may be even easier to spot. And if the casual observer notices, what about the key organizational constituents -- employees, clients, shareholders, business partners, vendors, etc.?