in our profession. Women have to make their peace or deal with those issues as they go into practice. So it requires helping encourage and equip them and to provide support to them to be able to make those decisions and get those life-balance issues that we talked about addressed in a way that allows them to succeed in their profession and reach their full potential.
Refer to Law Offices of Gary Green, P.A. We Share the Work We Pay the Costs We Pay 1/3 Associate Counsel Fees In Compliance With Rule 1.5(e) of the Arkansas Model Rules of Professional Conduct
Mr. Kaplan: Cory, is there a similar kind of thing with young black lawyers? Mr. Childs: Definitely. I love what Ms. Hoggard said about the stereotypes. I don’t have the statistics like she had but there are definitely stereotypes, negative stereotypes that exist in this country regarding AfricanAmericans. And a lot of firms, legal departments, corporations, have to recognize that. You just have to admit it. Start off, admit that there is bias. Maybe it didn’t come from your house, but it’s bias that exists that we have to fight through. Like Ms. Miller is saying, you have to be committed to diversity. But also, you have to be honest in recruiting. Are all the members and partners and associates in your firm top ten percent of their class? Were all of them on Law Review? The answer is probably no. So why then, when you seek out an African-American, they have to be that? Why do they have to be the superstar from the law school? I think that’s inherently unfair and it’s biased, it’s discriminatory. And you correct that by finding other ways to recruit African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, women. Were they leaders in their respective organizations, letters of recommendation from the professors? Instead of just saying, oh, not top ten, not Law Review, that resume goes in the trash, when you, yourself, the recruiter or other members of your recruiting committee, probably were not that. Ms. Miller: Cory, I’m going to follow up with you, because I think that there are a lot of law firms that do not believe that they are biased. And if you said they were biased, they’d say, no, we’re not biased, we always choose the best candidate, whoever is the best candidate. Therefore, what you’re saying is maybe that black attorney, woman attorney, Hispanic attorney, wasn’t in the top ten percent of the class. What’s to say they are not still the best candidate because they bring something else to the table. There are other intangibles that people bring to the table that will add or enhance your firm. And you can train the person for these other aspects that you’re looking for. And that’s the thing. Sometimes,
Personal Injury Product Liability Medical Negligence Nursing Home Cases 1001 La Harpe Blvd., Little Rock, AR 72201 501-224-7400 1-888-4GARY GREEN (442-7947) www.gGreen.com ggreen@gGreen.com students who graduate from law school may not have the background and the experiences that other students have, so they’re ahead of them on that. It’s not that they can not do the work, it’s that they just have not been in the environment to actually acclimate to that kind of particular area of practice or whatever. That should not be a deterrent in considering them, seriously considering them, and even hiring those applicants. I do see that as a problem. We’re not biased, we chose the top people. And if the black person or the woman who applied or the Hispanic applies, is the top person, they’ll get the job.
country has never been a meritocracy. Hiring decisions have quite often been based on those kind of connections that exist. I know firms that make those decisions all the time. And it’s more in the terms, both connections and what they think that person can bring to the firm. They’re the son of the CEO of X-bank, so if we hire them, there’s a greater chance we’ll get business from X-bank. I mean, those decisions are made all the time. They’re affirmative action.
Mr. Evans: The thing is that they won’t admit that. There’s a form of affirmative action that has existed over the decades that has always been in favor of white males. Where the firms have selected people that have connections, certain kinds of connection that most women and African-Americans do not have. They are the son of –
Mr. Evans: Sure it is. But I was basically saying though that people need to admit to that. That those are not decisions based purely on merit.
Ms. Miller: The banker. Mr. Evans: Or the managing partner’s roommate at college. You know, there are various kinds of, both collegiate connections, family connections, fraternity connections, church connections. That hiring is actually based on that reason and not necessarily based—this
Mr. Kaplan: That may be harder to do away with than creating it, an atmosphere.
Mr. Kaplan: We’ve been going for a little over an hour and I’ve learned a lot. I’m hopeful that when we get this transcript printed in The Arkansas Lawyer that the lawyers who read this will have learned a lot and that attitudes can change because of it. We could go on for a long time about this, and I’m hopeful that we can do this kind of thing again. Either at The Arkansas Lawyer or in another forum where we’ll have even more benefit to the legal community. We’re a better community here at the table. ■
Vol. 49 No. 1/Winter 2014 The Arkansas Lawyer
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