Diversity enriches our legal system

By 2042, the U.S. population is projected to be “majority minority,” according to the Census Bureau. While momentous achievements by people of diverse races, ethnic groups and genders increasingly enrich America’s cultural landscape in countless ways, the legal profession still lags in its multicultural inclusiveness.

According to the most recent data, minority attorneys make up only about10 percent of practicing lawyers nationwide. The good news is that initiatives are underway in the legal community to identify and remedy impediments to inclusiveness.

On the state level, the Florida Bar Board of Governors in May unanimously approved recommendations by the Florida Bar President’s Special Task Force to Study Enhancement of Diversity in the Judiciary and on the Judicial Nominating Commissions.

As part of its work, the task force conducted a survey of Florida lawyers, the results of which indicated that attorneys from diverse racial and ethnic groups are not as likely as other candidates to be selected for participation on Judicial Nominating Commissions. Recommendations by the task force seek to determine whether obstacles to diversity exist in the processes for nominating candidates for appointment to Florida’s judiciary.

Closer to home, the newly formed South Palm Beach County Bar Association’s Diversity& Inclusion Committee now provides another forum where lawyers with different perspectives and life experiences can learn from one another, close the gaps in the difference in those life experiences and howto interpret them to effectuate meaningful conversation and thrive professionally.

Between 2000 and 2010, overall population growth of 16.7 percent in Palm Beach County was fueled by growth in the number of Hispanic and black residents, underscoring the timeliness of the Diversity& Inclusion Committee’s mission.

With regard to professional development, the new Diversity Committee can help facilitate the training and mentorship necessary to improve retention of minorities— including women, at lawfirms and increase their representation in the upper echelons of firm management. Feedback from young female and African-American lawyers who possess all the qualifications for success often cites the discouraging impact of few people who look like them in positions of influence and the lack of mentors who have blazed a trail to the top.

The lawis a social construct comprised of people’s thoughts about society’s norms and morals. Within that construct, diverse genders, races and ethnic groups represent different life experiences and views of society. Social barriers should not be barriers to justice.

Morgan