Issuu

® July/August 2012

THE LEGACY OF JOHN PAYTON PAGE 28

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DIVERSITY MOVEMENT PAGE 38

LAWYERS IN THE MEDIA

FROM THE COURTHOUSE TO IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA ®

July/August 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

p.28 Photo credit: John Abbott Photography for Diversity & the Bar magazine. Betty Salinas provided makeup and Yoko Fumoto styled Ms. Hostin’s hair.

FEATURES 20 Lawyers in the Media Court cases can galvanize public opinion like few other issues. They are a barometer that measures our society. Media coverage can distort the facts of a case. The role of legal affairs analysts is to present the facts as they emerge and inform citizens how the law applies in those instances. BY NIKI MITCHELL

38 The Diversity Evolution Diversity alone is no longer enough. Firms that are successfully retaining a diverse talent pool have figured out what employees are really seeking—inclusion. BY DIANNE HAYES

28 The Legacy of John Payton John Payton’s contribution to the practice of law is immeasurable. The prominent civil rights attorney was the lead counsel for the University of Michigan in defending its laws and undergraduate schools’ use of race in their admissions process. He handled the cases for more than six years, ultimately seeing the U.S. Supreme Court uphold the practice in Grutter v. Bollinger. BY PATRICK FOLLIARD

p.38

MCCA® Board Of Directors Michelle Banks

Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Chief Compliance Officer, Gap, Inc.

Clarissa Cerda

Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, LifeLock, Inc.

A. B. Cruz III

Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc.

Thomas L. Sager

Senior Vice President & General Counsel, DuPont Company

Robin H. Sangston

Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer, Cox Communications, Inc.

Kenneth S. Siegel

Director, Jamison Insurance Group

Gary F. Kennedy

Mary E. Snapp

Don H. Liu

Lawrence P. Tu

Hinton J. Lucas

Simone Wu

Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Offi cer, American Airlines, Inc.

Sunny Hostin in CNN’s New York City studios

Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Walmart U.S. Legal

Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Anthony K. Greene

p.20

Samuel M. Reeves

Senior Vice President, General Counsel, & Secretary, Xerox Corporation Vice President & Assistant General Counsel, DuPont Company

Robbie E. B. Narcisse

Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Corporation Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Dell, Inc. Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Chief Compliance Officer, Choice Hotels International, Inc.

Vice President-Global Ethics & Business Practices Pitney Bowes Inc.

COLUMNS 12 Notes from the President & CEO 14 Perseverance in Profile Highlighting the contributions and talents of attorneys with disabilities.

Howard Rosenblum BY TOM CALARCO

16 Lawyer’s Lantern

Offering illuminating professional guidance for your career. BY SHERRY WILLIAMS

18 Spotlighting Blanche Lincoln

DEPARTMENTS 44 Association Focus Generation HOPE BY MICHELLE NEALY

46 Diversity News

Shifting Attitudes About Law School and the Profession BY JOSHUA H . SHIELDS

48 Movers & Shakers 50 The Scale

MCCA Weighs the News BY JOSHUA H . SHIELDS

BY PATRICK FOLLIARD

2012 STRATEGIC DIVERSITY SPONSORS

Advertising For advertising inquiries, contact Don Cooksey, Montrose Media Sales, at donald.cooksey@verizon.net. MCCA® Membership Please visit our web site at www.mcca.com for membership and other information. General Information and Address Changes Send your questions, complaints, and compliments to MCCA®, Editor, Diversity & the Bar®, 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. Address changes should be sent to MCCA’s Director of Membership and Development at 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. Permissions and Reprints Reproduction of Diversity & the Bar in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The Copyright Act of 1976 prohibits the reproduction by photocopy machine or any other means of any portion of this issue, except with the permission of MCCA. To obtain permission, contact: Joshua H. Shields, Editor-in-Chief, 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. Copyright Copyright® 2012 by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. Diversity & the Bar is published six times a year and is distributed to supporters and subscribers, 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. The information contained in this publication has been provided to the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA®) by a variety of independent sources. While MCCA makes every effort to present accurate and reliable information, MCCA does not endorse, approve, or certify such information, nor does MCCA

guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, or chronological sequence of any such information. Use of such information on the readers’ part is entirely voluntary and reliance upon it should be undertaken only upon independent review and due diligence. References herein to any commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, service mark, manufacturer, or otherwise shall not constitute or imply endorsement, preference, recommendation, or the favor of MCCA. MCCA (including its employees and agents) assumes no responsibility for consequences resulting from the use of the information herein, or in any respect for the content of such information, including (but not limited to) errors or omissions, the accuracy or reasonableness of factual or other data, including statistical or scientific assumptions, studies or conclusions, the defamatory nature of statements, ownership of copyright or other intellectual property rights, and the violation of property, privacy, or personal rights of others. MCCA is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims and denies liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to, or reliance upon such information. No guarantees or warranties, including (but not limited to) any express or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular use or purpose, are made by MCCA with respect to such information. Copyright in this publication, including all articles and editorial information contained herein, is exclusively owned by MCCA and MCCA reserves all rights to such information. MCCA is a tax-exempt corporation organized in accordance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Its tax ID number is 13-3920905.

MCCA® Law Department Members

The Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) acknowledges the support of the following law departments whose financial contributions have helped to advance the goal of furthering diversity in the legal profession.

3M Company AT&T Accenture LLP AdvoServ AECOM Allstate Insurance Altria Group, Inc. American Airlines, Inc. American Express Company American Lawyer Media Aon Corporation Areas USA, Inc. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Bank of America Behr America Inc. Benistar Admin Services, Inc. Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation Booz Allen Hamilton BP America Inc. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Capital One Financial Corporation Caraustar Industries, Inc. Cargill Inc. Catalent Pharma Solutions CBIC Construction & Development, LLC Chevron Corporation CIGNA Corporation CITGO Corporation Colgate-Palmolive Company Compass Group, The Americas Computer Science Corporation ConAgra Foods, Inc. ConocoPhillips

Consolidated Edison Co. of N.Y. Constellation Energy Cox Communications Deere & Company Del Monte Foods Corporation Dell Inc. DHL America Diageo North America Inc. Dignity Health Duke Energy DuPont DynCorp International Eaton Corporation Eli Lilly and Company Entergy Corporation Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Exelon Business Services Company Fannie Mae Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco Flagstar Bank Freddie Mac Gap Inc. General Electric Company General Mills Inc. GlaxoSmithKline Graduate Management Admission Council Hewlett-Packard Company HJ Heinz Company Halliburton Honeywell International IBM Corporation Ingersoll-Rand PLC Intel Corporation International Paper Company

Jamison Insurance Group JC Penney Company, Inc. JetBlue Airways Corporation Johnson & Johnson JPMorgan Chase Bank NA JM Family Enterprises, Inc. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. KeyCorp Kraft Foods Law School Admission Council (LSAC) Leo Burnett Company LexisNexis Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Lifelock, Inc. Lighthouse Document Technologies Liquidity Services, Inc. Macy’s, Inc. Marriott International, Inc. MassMutual Financial Group Mattel, Inc. Medifast, Inc. Merck & Co., Inc. McDonald’s Corporation Microsoft Corporation MillerCoors Monsanto Company Morgan Stanley National Grid Navistar, Inc. Neighborhood Defender Service Newegg Inc. New York Life Insurance Company

Northrop Grumman Corporation Nsoro, LLC Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited Office Depot Pacific Gas and Electric Company Pepco Holdings, Inc. PepsiCo, Inc. Pfizer Inc. Pitney Bowes, Inc. PPG Industries, Inc. Porzio Pharmaceutical Services, LLC PRAXAIR, INC. PreCash Premier Media, Inc. Prudential Financial Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Reckitt Benckiser, Inc. Reed Elsevier, Inc. Rockwell Collins Rolls Royce North America Inc. Sara Lee Corporation S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. Sears, Roebuck and Co. Sempra Energy Shell Oil Company Sodexo Sony Electronics, Inc. Southeastern Freight Lines, Inc. Southern California Edison Company Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Staples, Inc. Starbucks Coffee Company

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. Synopsys, Inc. Target Corporation Tessera North America, Inc. The Church Pension Fund The Clorox Company The Coca-Cola Company The Dow Chemical Company The Juilliard School The Vanguard Group, Inc. The Walt Disney Company The Williams Companies, Inc. Tyson Foods Inc. UBS UnitedHealth Group United Parcel Service United Technologies Corporation U.S. Food Service, Inc. Verizon Communications Walmart Stores, Inc. WellPoint, Inc. Waste Management Wells Fargo & Company Xerox Corporation XO Holdings, Inc. Xylem Inc. Yazaki North America Inc. Zenith Insurance Company

MCCA® Law Firm Affiliates

MCCA® acknowledges the decision of the following law firms who have joined with MCCA to advance the goal of furthering diversity in the legal profession. Archer & Greiner, P.C. Bressler, Amery & Ross PC Bricker & Eckler LLP Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens & Cannada, PLLC Cavich, Familo & Durkin Co., LPA Clifford Chance US LLP Cozen O’Connor Crumbie Law Group, LLC Davis & Gilbert LLP DeMahy Labrador & Drake, PA Dickstein Shapiro LLP Duane Morris LLP Epstein, Becker & Green, PC

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow,Garrett & Dunner, LLP Fish & Richardson P.C. Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto Frost Brown Todd LLC Goldberg Segalla, LLP Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP Hamilton Miller & Birthisel LLP Helms & Greene LLC Hinkley Allen & Snyder LLP Ice Miller LLP Igbanugo Partners International Law Firm Kaufman Dolowich Voluck & Gonzo LLP Kenyon & Kenyon LLP

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Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP King Branson LLC Kirkland & Ellis LLP Kumar, Prabhu, Patel & Banerjee Lathrop & Gage LLP Littler Mendelson P.C. Loeb & Loeb LLP Maynard Cooper & Gale PC McGuireWoods LLP Miles & Stockbridge P.C. Montgomery, Barnett, Brown, Read, Hammond & Mintz LLP Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP Nemeth Burwell, P.C. Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart P.C.

Pepper Hamilton, LLP Peter Law Group Phelps Dunbar LLP Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, PC Quarles & Brady LLP Rivero Mestre, LLP Rooney Rippie & Ratnaswamy, LLP Sanchez & Amador, LLP Sanchez-Medina, Gonzalez, Quesada, Lage, Crespo, Gomez & Machado LLP Saul Ewing LLP Snell & Wilmer LLP Steptoe & Johnson PC Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

Stevens & Lee Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, P.C. Sughrue Mion PLLC Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP The Goldstein Environmental Law Firm P.A. Thompson Hine LLP Waas Campbell Rivera Johnson & Velasquez LLP Winston & Strawn LLP Zuber & Taillieu LLP

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13th

Annual

Join Us!

13 Annual Creating Pathways to Diversity® Conference Marriott Marquis Hotel | New York, NY

New

2! 012 1 0 2 n ed i ways2 v o r p m I & h

at p / m o ca.c c m . w w Go to w

Monday, September 10, 2012 See the website for conference agenda and confirmed speakers!

We listened! Based on your feedback, MCCA has completely reimagined the tracks for its 13th Annual Creating Pathways to Diversity® Conference. The new tracks are Career Development Tools for Diverse Attorneys, Investing in Diverse Talent, Creating Organizational Change, and Diversity & the Profession. You wanted cutting-edge discussions and practical skills building workshops. Each session has been reworked to provide you ideas and tools you can immediately implement in both your career and workplace. Join us at the Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference – a diversity and inclusion conference redesigned just for you.

13th

Annual

Advisory Board

Conference Agenda

Michael P. Allen Senior Attorney Environment, Safety, & Compliance Microsoft Corporation

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012 7:30 - 9:00 AM

BREAKFAST & REGISTRATION

9:00 AM -10:30 AM

OPENING PLENARY SESSION

10:30 - 11:00 AM

Richard Amador Partner Sanchez & Amador LLP Andrea V. Arias Federal Government Employee

BREAK Career Development Tools for Diverse Attorneys

Investing in Diverse Talent

101.

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

12:30 - 2:30 PM

4:00 - 4:30 PM

The Explicit Impact of Implicit Bias: Understanding Your Implicit Biases & How You Affect Others

6:00 - 7:30 PM

301.

Measuring Your Organization’s Inclusiveness Efforts

401.

Diversity in the Courtroom

Judgment, Common Sense & Trusting Your Gut: A Tool Box for Developing Business Acumen

202.

Growing a Crop of Inclusive Leaders through Development of Core Competencies

302.

Implementing an LGBT Employee Resource Group that Drives Organizational Change

402.

Demographics in Corporate Legal Departments

Deborah Epstein Henry Founder & President Law & Reorder A Division of Flex-Time Lawyers LLC

203.

Creating Diversity Internship Programs in Your Corporate Legal Department

303.

Using Diversity as a Strategy for Increased Law Firm Profitability

403.

Success Stories from Corporate America’s Partnership with Minority- & Women-Owned Law Firms

NETWORKING RECEPTION

REGISTRATION CONFIRMATION

Registration is NOT confirmed until payment has been received by MCCA. Electronic confirmation of your registration will be sent within ten business days of receipt of payment or upon completion of payment process if registering online. Full registration includes access to conference sessions, electronic course materials, and scheduled meals. Program sessions are subject to limited attendance due to facility capacity constraints, so please pre-register for your desired courses. MCCA is not responsible for any expenses associated with travel, lodging, or other costs incurred by the registrant, including any cost incurred due to cancellation of the conference. Audio or video recording or transcription of any portion of the seminar is prohibited unless express consent is granted by MCCA. MCCA is holding a block of rooms at the Marriott Marquis Hotel at the rate of $369/night (single/double). For reservations, call 800-843-4898 and indicate you are attending MCCA’s 2012 Creating Pathways to Diversity® Conference to receive the group rate. You can also reserve a room online by visiting www.mcca.com/ pathways2012 and clicking on the Marriott link in the right column.

Rob Jones, Jr. Corporate Attorney American Airlines, Inc. Paul Marchegiani Senior Counsel, Legal Affairs NBCUniversal Television Group Jeanine M. Mitchell Attorney at Law Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice LLP Nimesh M. Patel Executive Director - Diversity & Inclusion Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer U.S. Department of Homeland Security Peter M. Reyes Senior Intellectual Property Lawyer Cargill, Incorporated

Conference Details

HOUSING

Janice P. Brown Founder & Senior Partner Brown Law Group

Joan M. Haratani Partner Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

BREAK

103.

4:30 - 6:00 PM

Walk A Mile in Her Shoes: Working Mothers & Career Advancement

Diversity & the Profession

LUNCH & PLENARY

102.

2:30 - 4:00 PM

201.

Soft Skills & Your Career Advancement

Creating Organizational Change

SUBSTITUTIONS AND CANCELLATIONS

All cancellations must be received in writing; telephone cancellations will not be accepted. Cancellations received in writing by August 17, 2012, will be fully refunded minus a $50.00 administrative fee. Individuals canceling in writing after August 17 but prior to September 3 will receive a full credit towards attendance at MCCA’s 14th Annual Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference (only monies paid for the 13th Annual Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference will be credited; after applying credit, any balance due is the responsibility of the registrant). If written confirmation of cancellation is not received by September 3, no refunds or credits of any kind will be issued. Credits will be processed after the meeting. Substitutions are always welcome; please submit a written request along with a completed registration form for the new individual in order to transfer the registration. Cancellations and requests for substitutions should be submitted to education@mcca.com.

DISCOUNTED AIRFARE

Travel discounts are valid September 8-13, 2012 to New York, NY (EWR, HPN, JFK, LGA).To make a discount reservation, please call American Airlines Meeting Services Desk at 800-433-1790 or go to www.AA.com and use promotion code5892BS.

Join us for MCCA’s Diversity Honors Gala! September 11, 2012 Contact Jennifer Chen at 202-739-5902 or visit www.mcca.com/gala

Ryan Smith Partner Zuber & Taillieu LLP Joanne Suh Senior Attorney Intel Corporation Walter L. Sutton Associate General Counsel Walmart Stores, Inc. Adonica-Jo R. Wada Partner Simon Gluck & Kane LLP Peter Wilson Director of Diversity & Inclusion Proskauer Rose LLP Linda Wong Partner & CEO Wong Fleming, P.C. Justin A. Xenitelis General Counsel Thor Equities LLC

See the website for confirmed speakers!

Session Descriptions Career Development Tools for Diverse Attorneys Track 101. Soft Skills & Your Career Advancement Are you trusted? How strong are the relationships in your organization with those above and below you? Do you listen actively and effectively? Can you adroitly manage conflict? This in-depth panel will address the “soft skills” you need to you advance your career. You will leave this panel learning how to develop self-awareness, make the most of your professional relationships, and enhance your communication techniques.

102. The Explicit Impact of Implicit Bias: Understanding Your Implicit Biases & How You Affect Others Much has been written about implicit and unconscious bias, but what do those terms actually mean? How does bias impact our lives and work? This presentation will address how implicit biases affect the way we learn, work, and lead. Learn the steps to overcome bias and unleash the potential of every member of your organization.

103. Judgment, Common Sense & Trusting Your Gut: A Tool Box for Developing Business Acumen How adept are you at dealing with situations in ways that lead to positive outcomes? When should you trust your gut? Good judgment is essential to good lawyering, but can judgment be improved? This panel of experienced professionals will teach you techniques to improve business acumen and advance your client’s objectives.

Investing in Diverse Talent Track 201. Walk A Mile In Her Shoes: Working Mothers & Career Advancement How do working mothers “balance” both their careers and family obligations? This panel discussion will spotlight the special challenges working mothers face while advancing their career. You will learn key recommendations for supervisors and organizational leaders on how to support team members juggling child-rearing duties.

202. Growing a Crop of Inclusive Leaders through Development of Core Competencies Many corporations and law firms that are focused on diversity have sought to reduce the role of bias in performance evaluations. Organizations have increasingly developed core competency models to achieve this aim. This panel will discuss how to develop a strong core competency framework that also fosters a diverse and inclusive workplace.

203. Creating Diversity Internship Programs in Your Corporate Legal Department Is your legal department looking to impact the pipeline of diverse lawyers entering the profession, but unable to hire directly from law schools? Are you with a law firm looking to engage your clients on pipeline issues? This how-to discussion will teach legal departments the ins and outs of creating an internship program for diverse law students. Law firm leaders will learn how firms can partner with corporate legal departments to support these programs. Hear from experienced panelists who have created successful internship programs.

Creating Organizational Change Track 301. Measuring Your Organization’s Inclusiveness Efforts Are you engaged in systemic changes in your organization with the intent to lead to greater diversity and inclusion? How do you know if your organization is more inclusive? How do you develop metrics with respect to inclusiveness, as opposed to traditional diversity metrics? Attend this workshop and learn how to assess and measure your organization’s success at creating an inclusive environment.

302. Implementing an LGBT Employee Resource Group that Drives Organizational Change This workshop will provide participants with tools and strategies to successfully implement an employee resource group that enhances the experience of your LGBT employees. Learn how resource groups differ from affinity groups. Topics to be covered include: what are the right employee policies and benefits, the value of financial sponsorship of external organizations, and the importance of community outreach.

303. Using Diversity as a Strategy for Increased Law Firm Profitability A panel of law department and law firm leaders will discuss how diversity and inclusion can be used as a strategy to increase law firm profitability. The panel will discuss systems for integrating diverse lawyers into business development teams; promoting diverse lawyers’ engagement with their own communities; rewards to encourage lasting cultural change; and measuring and communicating the impact of diversity initiatives on bottom line results.

Diversity & the Profession Track 401. Diversity in the Courtroom This program will explore diversity in the courtroom from three different perspectives: judges, in-house counsel, and outside counsel. The panel will discuss the role that diversity plays in a trial setting; including how concerns about diversity impact a jury; issues companies should remember when selecting a legal team to represent them in court; and diversity related issues that litigators encounter in the courtroom.

402. Demographics in Corporate Legal Departments MCCA released its groundbreaking research report, A Comprehensive Examination of Diversity Demographics, Initiatives, and Policies in Corporate Legal Departments, which studies the diversity demographics, initiatives, and standards that exist in corporate legal departments. This panel discussion will focus on where women and minorities stand in corporate legal departments, and how corporations are tracking retention and promotion. This discussion will also provide excellent benchmarking opportunities for corporate legal departments looking to advance diversity and inclusion in their companies.

403. Success Stories from Corporate America’s Partnership with Minority- & Women-Owned Law Firms Are you aware of the significant number of successful relationships that exist between corporate America and minority- and women-owned law firms? Are you familiar with the programs and resources that exist to increase the number of minority- and womenowned firms that represent companies in the Fortune 1000? This discussion will address the current state of diversity in the representation of corporate America and how to obtain a slice of the Fortune 1000 legal spend pie.

Monday, September 10, 2012

13th

Annual

REGISTRATION FORM CONTACT INFORMATION

13th Annual Creating Pathways to Diversity® Conference | Marriott Marquis Hotel | New York, NY NAME TITLE ORGANIZATION ADDRESS CITY

STATE

PHONE

ZIP CODE

FAX

E-MAIL

REGISTRATION ITEMS

Please indicate your registration type*:

$350 Early Bird (Deadline: August 6, 2012) $350 MCCA** and ACC members/FANs/Pathways Sponsor Rate $350 Group Rate (Rate is per person; 3+ from the same organization) $450 General Registration (After August 6, 2012)

ONLINE www.mcca.com

Add a ticket to attend MCCA’s Diversity Honors Gala

MAIL form and check to: Minority Corporate Counsel Association 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20004

at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on Tuesday, September 11, 2012

3 WAYS TO REGISTER (credit card only)

FAX form to (202) 739-5999

$625 MCCA Diversity Honors Gala, Non In-House Counsel $475 MCCA Diversity Honors Gala, In-House Counsel Ticket $450 MCCA Diversity Honors Gala, Member/FAN Ticket $375 VIP Reception Only $ Total Amount

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*By submitting this form, you agree to MCCA’s cancellation policy and grant MCCA the right to photograph, film, and use your likeness and voice in MCCA related publicity and advertising. MCCA is a not-for-profit organization classified under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code. MCCA’s tax identification number is 13-3920905. ** MCCA corporate members receive up to 3 complimentary registrations to attend the Creating Pathways to Diversity® Conference. Contact a staff member at education@mcca.com for details.

Notes

From the President & CEO

THE MEDIA, AND BIAS THERE ARE FEW INFLUENCES AS PROFOUND AND PERVASIVE AS THE MEDIA. Everything from our political opinions, to

our consumer habits, to our perceptions of others and indeed ourselves is shaped by the images and ideas we see in newspapers, on television, and on the Internet. The intersection of the law and media presents interesting questions about the impact of these two powerful forces on American culture. In this issue of Diversity and the Bar we take a look at lawyers in the media. We introduce you to some of the talented attorneys who cover and analyze today’s most pressing legal issues. We examine their role and the difficulties incumbent in presenting complex legal issues to laypersons accustomed to today’s compressed communications formats. In the process, we reveal that there is as much to the diversity within their ranks as there is to the profession at large. The issue of implicit bias is finally gaining currency. This is the scientifically supported notion that much of our interaction with people, particularly those of a different race, is driven more by learned stereotypes that operate automatically—and therefore unconsciously. This notion is at the heart of much of the inclusiveness training that MCCA has conducted through the Academy for Leadership and Inclusiveness seminars that we host around the country. There is also a wealth of information available through the American Values Institute which, on their Web site americansforamericanvalues.org, explores the implicit bias research conducted by Jerry Kang and Mahzarin Banaji. In their article “Fair Measures,” Kang and Banaji explain that “…mechanisms of bias [are] produced by the current, ordinary workings of human brains—which are programmed through culture, media, and the material context.” We’ve come to learn that much of the lack of diversity and inclusiveness in our profession is shaped not so much by intentional biases against people whom

we don’t resemble, but by a bias for people we do. Understanding this dynamic is the first step to taking conscious actions to address the problem. I encourage you to register for this year’s MCCA Pathways to Diversity CLE conference (taking place September 10, 2012 in New York City), where we will explore all of these issues during enlightening seminars and practical workshops that will help your organization take measurable steps toward a more diverse and inclusive environment. We also hope you will join us the following evening, September 11, for our MCCA Awards Gala where we will honor the remarkable career and contributions of former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Dennis Archer, who was the first minority president of the American Bar Association, with this year’s MCCA Lifetime Achievement Award. We look forward to seeing you in New York. JOSEPH K. WEST

President & CEO MCCA_law

www.facebook.com/mcca.law

Publications Staff President & CEO Joseph K. West Founder and Publisher Emeritus Lloyd M. Johnson Jr. Editor-in-Chief Joshua H. Shields

DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

JULY/AUGUST 2012

Publishing Consultants Bill Cox Toni Coleman Advertising Dan Cooksey Design/Art Direction Quad/Graphics Creative Solutions

MCCA® Staff Jennifer Chen Mahzarine Chinoy David Chu Donna Crook Brandon M. Fitzgerald Jessica Martinez Andrea Pimm Connie Swindell-Harding

Contributing Writers Tom Calarco Patrick Folliard Dianne Hayes Niki Mitchell Michelle Nealy Joshua H. Shields Sherry Williams

MCCA.COM

Gala

The MCCA Diversity Honors Gala Alice Tully Hall | Lincoln Center New York | NY

MCCA Lifetime Achievement Honoree

Dennis W. Archer

Chairman, Dennis W. Archer PLLC Chairman Emeritus Dickinson Wright PLLC

Join Us! September 11, 2012 Join MCCA for an amazing evening honoring the nation’s foremost corporate and industry leaders at one unforgettable awards presentation celebrating diversity and inclusion in the legal community.

Honorees Mid-Atlantic Region

Midwest Region

Northeast Region

Sunny Hostin

CNN Legal analyst and ABC Anchor, will host the 2012 Diversity Honors Gala

Southwest Region

Western Region

Sponsored by

Morgan Stanley

For more information contact: Jennifer Chen Vice President – External Relations 202-739-5902 or jenchen@mcca.com To learn more visit www.mcca.com/gala

Perseverance in Profile

HOWARD ROSENBLUM: ADVOCATE FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING BY TOM CALARCO

Howard A. Rosenblum’s whole body communicates when he uses sign language. His expressive face speaks volumes. He seeks to be an inspiration for millions. As CEO of the National Association of the Deaf, he is the nation’s leading advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing, and is on a mission to improve accessibility and equality for the 28 million Americans with hearing challenges.

osenblum became deaf at the age of two after contracting meningitis. His mother, a teacher, gave him the confidence to believe that he could do whatever he wanted with his life. She stressed the importance of language skills, he says, and enrolled him in the best available schools to equip him with the tools he would need to become successful. Raised in Skokie, Ill., Rosenblum attended Wilmot Elementary School in nearby Deerfield, Ill., which had a cooperative program that served deaf children in Cook and Lake coun-

DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

JULY/AUGUST 2012

ties in Illinois. At this school, he was mainstreamed and interacted with both deaf and hearing students. His journey to become a lawyer began during the 1970s when his mother took him to a presentation by Lowell Myers, one of the few deaf attorneys in the U.S. at that time. “I was 12 years old,” he says. “My mother had for a long time emphasized to me that I could be anything I wanted to be, particularly a lawyer or a doctor. Until then, I had shrugged off my mother’s nagging. When I saw Mr. Myers explain his work and his cases, I realized that deaf people could indeed be lawyers. This was an eye-opener to me. For the first time, I realized that deaf people could indeed be independent and hold positions of power. “[My mother] felt that Myers would be an important role model for me. Most deaf children don’t see deaf adults and don’t know what to expect. I was fortunate in this respect. I went and watched and it was a huge impact on my life.” Thereafter Rosenblum aspired to become an attorney, but at the University of Arizona, Rosenblum majored in computer engineering. He says this was because he felt uncertain about his ability to surmount the hurdles of being accepted into law school and passing the bar exam. “I found out through a vocational testing system that my strengths were in the engineering field,” he says. He decided then that if he was not able to make it through law school, he would have another profession to fall back on, but if he did, it would provide him with insight into the field of intellectual property law, which was interesting to him. Rosenblum says computer-assisted technologies play a major MCCA.COM

special education, probate law, and nonprofit corporations. Most of my caseload involved disability rights, and I’ve never looked back.” His experiences as a lawyer reinforced the realization that accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing had a long way to go. “When you grow up with obstacles, you get used to it,” he says, “but when I became a lawyer in 1992, the same year the American Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect, the issues and the obstacles were apparent and could be removed, so I realized there is a lot of work to do.” This led him to establish the Midwest Center for Law and the Deaf (MCLD). “I was the only profoundly deaf attorney in Illinois that knew sign language,” he says. “When the deaf and hard of hearing community found out that I was an attorney offering services in disability rights, it seemed like every deaf and hard of hearing person in the state contacted me for legal assistance.” However, when he contacted other lawyers for referral, he found many would not take deaf clients. “It was appalling to me and actually violated the ADA. Attorneys are not allowed to turn away individuals as clients solely on the basis of their being deaf or hard of hearing, and are required by the ADA to provide communication access (such as a sign language interpreter) at no additional cost to the clients. I felt I had to do something about it, so in 1997 I founded the MCLD to ensure that we could refer deaf and hard of hearing people to attorneys who were willing to take them on as clients.” The process can be challenging, explains Rosenblum, who hired a

It was never a question of our ability, but rather a question of opening doors for us and breaking down the barriers. role in achieving complete accessibility and equality for the deaf and hard of hearing, and credits email and instant messaging as an important advance for the deaf in the workplace. One of the most important technologies, he says, has been the relay system. “This system is required under Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” he says. “It comprises many versions that allow all of us to make and receive telephone calls regardless of our preferred mode of communication whether it be American Sign Language (ASL), lipreading, or captioning, as well as the ability to speak for ourselves while receiving messages visually.” It was by chance that Rosenblum wound up serving people like himself. “I originally wanted to be an attorney in the intellectual property area,” he says, “but I was unable to get a job or even a clerkship in this area when I was studying at Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago Kent College of Law or afterwards. I suspected it was because I was deaf. I was first offered a position as a summer clerk with Northwestern University Law School because they had an ongoing special education case that involved deaf children. From there, I gained other clerkships that involved disability rights law. Through those experiences, I was offered a position with a small law firm that focused on disability rights, MCCA.COM

director for MCLD. A lawyer needs to hire an interpreter for the initial consultation, but the court is responsible for obtaining the interpreters during the legal hearing. To help overcome lawyers’ reluctance to take on the initial expense, he offered the promise of additional clients if all went well. He proposed a change to the license to practice law that would provide communication access for deaf clients. “Interest in this concept is growing in some states, such as Illinois, Texas, and North Carolina,” he says. The current non-compliance with the ADA in such issues as accommodations in the workplace and in public facilities, despite much litigation to remedy it, has been frustrating for him. “This must change,” he says, “and that is why I decided to take the job as the CEO of the National Association of the Deaf.” Rosenblum says more deaf and hard of hearing lawyers are needed. Of the more than 1 million licensed lawyers in the U.S., he says only about 300 identify themselves as deaf or hard of hearing. As CEO of the National Association of the Deaf, Rosenblum believes he can provide the leadership that will see the day when full compliance with the ADA is never a question. But it’s up to those who have a disability to believe in themselves and for others to give them a chance he says. “People with disabilities are capable of so many things, but only need the opportunity to shine,” he says. “Forty years ago, there were only a handful of deaf attorneys. It was never a question of our ability, but rather a question of opening doors for us and breaking down the barriers. We are very talented and we can be successful. We can be successful lawyers, and we’re hoping that we can be given the opportunity to show what we can do.” D&B Tom Calarco is a freelance writer based in Altamonte Springs, Fla. JULY/AUGUST 2012

DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

Lawyer’s Lantern

TO A YOUNG WOMAN LAWYER... BY SHERRY WILLIAMS

As I embark on my 18th year of practicing law, I marvel at how the legal profession has changed, and yet stayed the same.

remember with great fondness both my desktop and portable Dictaphones, the requirement to get Motions and Pleadings “on the fax machine” by 5 p.m., and having the courier wait at 3:30 p.m. to get filings to court before the cut-off time. With today’s technology, those issues are distant memories. What has not changed as much is the racial, gender, and ethic makeup of law firms. I still recall feeling notquite-part of the team in my first five years of practice, not because I lacked experience, but because I was both African American and a woman, and was often the only one of my kind. Today, after 20-plus years of diversity efforts, racial and ethnic groups, sexual and gender minorities, and lawyers with disabilities continue to be vastly underrepresented

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in the legal profession, especially in the largest law firms. This is so even though this country is on pace to become majority-minority. I have said for many years that for diverse lawyers, big law firm life is an insider’s game. It is an environment where although the playing field is not fair or level and everyone certainly does not get a chance at bat, there continues to be expectations that everyone on the field achieve at the same level of competence or be released from the team. However, opportunities for those of us who are of a different race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation are often diminished by the disappointment of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Sometimes the “isms” and “phobias” are real, born of real bias and real prejudice to our differences. Other times we imagine the “isms” as the product of anxieties born from the isolation diverse lawyers impose on ourselves as we focus on being the best and earning our place—as we focus on being included. Earning our place and being included is no easy task when firm colleagues have a just-under-the-surface resentment of diversity efforts, and diverse lawyers, who often do not understand the political framework of the firm, and lack mentors, sponsors, and second chances. Many of these issues are certainly not unique to diverse lawyers; however, they have an exponentially greater negative impact on them. For women of difference, the “isms” and “phobias” are compounded by stacking race, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation on top of gender difference. I’ve thought a lot about the advice I would give other women, especially diverse women, in their first years of MCCA.COM

practice. I also emailed a diverse group of brilliant women lawyers to solicit their advice by asking the question: “If there was one thing that you did not know in the first five years of your career but you wish you had known, what would it be?” The answers were instructive. Politics Matter: Diverse lawyers often neglect internal firm politics in the belief that good work speaks for itself. However, in a service business with a large number of competent professionals, and where access to quality work and expanded opportunities is based almost exclusively on personal relationships, it is absolutely imperative that diverse lawyers figure out the politics of their firm and execute them well. Establish High Personal Standards: Set your own high standards of competence and performance, and measure yourself by those standards. If you can say yes to two questions, “Did I practice good law today?” and “Did I stay true to myself?” then everything else will be alright. Love Your Practice: Practice because you love the law and believe in the process, especially in the public interest or nonprofit sector. Practicing law is a hard way to earn a living, and very often your clients and colleagues will not appreciate your efforts. So if you are practicing for appreciation, praise, or money you will eventually be frustrated and disappointed. Find Your Place: Often when diverse lawyers leave large law firms, they decide that “big firms are not for me.” This is often a response to the diminished confidence that comes from being in an environment that lacks an inclusive culture. However, all firms are really not the same, so although diverse lawyers need to be careful about their choices, they should not con themselves out of the training, experience, and professional MCCA.COM

prestige that come with large law firms. You may eventually leave, but let it be on your own terms. Own Your Career: Take true ownership of your career from the beginning. Rather than handing over responsibility for your development to your superiors or the firm, become the CEO of your own career, even if that means paying for important training or coaching with your own money. If you do this, you will sustain a higher level of confidence over time, and you will always understand that you are often better than you have been led to believe.

Reorganize, prioritize, and find a way. Say YES!: Understand the importance of saying yes. Yes to a new work opportunity, or to a novel, outside-of-the-box proposal or business solution to a client problem. It is easy to panic or feel overwhelmed when your plan for the day is interrupted with the unexpected, but often those work/day altering opportunities provide significant chances to learn, grow, and build relationships. Yes is easy when you have time for a new matter, but harder when your plate is full. Reorganize, prioritize, and find a way. The payoff is immeasurable. Self-Promote: Understand the importance of highlighting and getting credit for your accomplishments. Diverse lawyers, especially women, often assume that if they do a great job they will automatically

be recognized and rewarded. As a result, diverse and women lawyers often fail at personal marketing and self-promotion, often to their overall career detriment. Understand the finer points and benefits of self-promotion. In most firm environments, if you do not tell your colleagues and partners what you do, they will not know. Have a Life: Cultivate meaningful relationships outside of your firm and outside of the law. It is important for you and for your career that you are involved with some people who do not compete with you or measure your value by billable hours, client originations, promotions, or the last case won or lost. Having a full life also gives you perspective. Law firms, like many organizations, can impose a “fishbowl” mentality, which causes the activities there to take on a disproportionate role in your life. Having an outside life helps you to understand more profoundly that law is what you do, not who you are. I am sure that if I had polled a larger number of women, I would have gotten additional good advice. Ultimately, I believe that what each of these women wished they had known earlier, rather than later, in their careers is that ultimately each of us is responsible for our own success. Every year that a young lawyer spends without a sharp focus on what they need to do to be both the best lawyer possible and firmly in control of their career progress is a year lost. This inertia is especially detrimental to minority and women lawyers. At the end of the day, no matter how hard it might be to work through or past the “isms” and “phobias” in law firms, diverse lawyers should consider this final piece of advice: Don’t fail because of the roadblocks, achieve in spite of them. D&B Sherry Williams is senior vice president-chief ethics and compliance officer for Halliburton. JULY/AUGUST 2012

DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

Spotlighting

NEXT CHAPTER Blanche Lincoln BY PATRICK FOLLIARD

Reviewing the early days of her political career, former U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas ponders where exactly her gumption came from. “My father taught me not to complain unless I was willing to roll up my sleeves and contribute to the solution. Clearly, the lesson got through. I was a young, unmarried woman who had been a staffer and decided to run against my ex-boss in Arkansas’ Democratic primary. Not necessarily a typical path to Congress.”

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incoln went on to win the general election in a landslide, beating her Republican opponent by receiving 70 percent of the vote. She served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Arkansas’ 1st Congressional District from 1993 to 1997. Lincoln went on to make history as the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate at the age of 38; an accomplishment that still stands today. Not one to rest on her laurels, Lincoln made history again when she became the first woman in the United States to become chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry in its 184-year history. In 2010, Lincoln lost a reelection bid to a third term in the U.S. Senate. Throughout her years in Congress, Lincoln says, she never once considered what she might do post-politics, much less set her sights on a specific second act. “I was too focused on being as good a mother, wife, and U.S. senator as I could be and accomplishing policy goals on behalf of my constituents. After November, former colleagues advised me to take my time and think through where I wanted to be, and I took their advice.” Lincoln was certain of one thing, she wanted to land in a place that was focused on solving tough public policy challenges and that shared her view that the best way to accomplish that objective is in a bipartisan way. As a policy adviser at Alston & Bird LLP since late May 2011, Lincoln feels she has landed in a great spot. As a native Arkansan, Lincoln is attracted to the Atlanta-headquartered firm’s southern roots and the culture surrounding that. At Alston she has discovered a great fit for her unique experience. “Coming here I joined a public policy group of other former members of Congress. Senator Bob Dole and former Congressmen Earl Pomeroy and Billy Tauzin who practice what they preach: bipartisanship, problem-solving, and finding consensus. That’s what I went to Congress to do and that’s what I want to continue to foster in my professional career,” Lincoln says. Lincoln brings to the firm firsthand experience with lawmaking and policy knowledge gleaned from years of working on various congressional committees that cover finance, energy, natural resources, agriculture, and healthcare. “With policy, it’s about taking the time to get to know your colleagues well because each lawmaker brings their own experiences to decision-making,” she adds. Robert C. Jones, chair of Alston’s D.C.-based legislative and public policy group, says Lincoln is a tremendous MCCA.COM

asset to the firm’s burgeoning legislative and public policy practice. “[Senator Lincoln] spent her congressional career seeking bipartisan solutions and now does the same for our clients,” says Jones, former counsel to the Senate Appropriations Committee and former appropriations counsel to Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD). “During her tenure in Congress, Senator Lincoln was able to break every ceiling in the world’s most exclusive club.” After 20 years in public service, any transition takes time. “When you’re an elected official, it’s like you’re running your own firm with its multiple departments spanning every issue facing the United States government. My name was on the door and I called the shots. You get used to that. At Alston there is a wonderful team that supports one another, but it’s different and I’m adjusting to that,” says Lincoln. “As a senator, I was constantly moving between meetings with my committee colleagues, or going to the Senate to vote. Like any executive, I was able to put a team in place that managed issue areas and reported directly to me.

go through them myself, and of course I’m as curious as a cat so I read them all. That takes up too much time so I am learning to prioritize in my new life.” Lincoln likens her career to an unplanned journey. From junior Congresswoman to policy adviser at Alston, the path has unfolded on its own. But along the way, Lincoln has relied on a family-instilled, inner compass rooted in her faith to help keep her from straying too far off course. Born Blanche Meyers Lambert into a seventh-generation Arkansas farming family, Lincoln was brought up to believe she could do great things. “My parents encouraged us to be inquisitive, courageous—and to be ourselves. It was pounded into us that anything was achievable provided we were willing to work hard. There were only two rules in our house—if it was rude or dangerous, it was not allowed.” After graduating from Randolph Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College) in 1982 with a degree in biology, Lincoln’s plan was to go into nursing, she says. “But frankly after a tough senior year of lab courses I was feeling a little burned out. I

When you consider the challenges ahead, it is critical that we also have a woman’s perspective in the upcoming public policy debates. I learned how to make myself efficient but also how to make a professional organization work effectively to accomplish policy objectives for Arkansas. Today, I have a lot fewer direct reports and unfortunately a lot more access to my email account. In the Senate, my staff helped me manage those. Now I MCCA.COM

wanted to try something completely new and exciting so I moved to Washington and never looked back.” In D.C., Lincoln worked as a staffer for Arkansas Congressman Bill Alexander (whom years later she would go up against and defeat), and became immediately enamored with the town and govern-

ment—both the good parts and the parts that needed fixing. From the start, she was drawn to finding consensus. As an original cofounder of the Congressional Blue Dog Caucus, Lincoln was often criticized by her party for voting with the other side and by the right for not being a Republican. In a tough 2010 election cycle, she says, “They were coming at me from left and right, but I did what I believed in and have no regrets.” With regard to today’s Congress, she is concerned with a lack of civility and true bipartisanship. “When I first ran for Congress, my age was more of an issue than my gender. After all, ’92 was the year of the woman. That year 24 new women were elected to the House and five to the Senate, the largest increase in history. “There were a lot of women out there and I was one of them,” says Lincoln, who is married to physician and fellow Arkansan Dr. Steve Lincoln (they are the parents of twin boys). “Today is different. It’s quite possible that after the upcoming election cycle we’ll have fewer women in Congress than we did 10 years ago. When you consider the challenges ahead, it is critical that we also have a woman’s perspective in the upcoming policy debates.” Yet, Lincoln remains optimistic about the future. “We have to be optimistic because the United States remains the greatest nation of opportunity in the world but most importantly, we owe it to the next generation to be positive. My parents’ love for their country came way before their political views, and I want my children to feel the same way. I loved every minute of public service. It truly was a privilege for me. Now, policy advising is another leg of the journey. I’m passionate about policy, analyzing policy, and problem-solving. Alston & Bird is a place where I can continue to make a difference.” D&B Patrick Folliard is a freelance writer based in Silver Spring, Md. JULY/AUGUST 2012

DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

FROM THE COURTHOUSE TO THE BY NIKI MITCHELL

"I WISH MORE TRAINED LAWYERS COULD DO TELEVISED LEGAL COMMENTARY, IT CONTRI

CAMERA Some lawyers are moving in front of the camera to educate the public about high-profile legal cases and the challenges they present.

BUTES TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF A COMPLEX SYSTEM OF LAWS." – SUNNY HOSTIN

WE, AS SPECTATORS, HAVE LONG BEEN FASCINATED BY TRIALS AND THE LAW. FROM SOCRATES TO JESUS TO O.J. SIMPSON, AND THE U.S. SUPREME COURT ARGUMENTS OVER THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, WE ARE OFTEN CAPTIVATED BY THE EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE INSIDE THE WALLS OF A COURTROOM. 22

ost recently, the country’s attention has been riveted on the Trayvon Martin case, the sad tale of a unarmed 17-year-old shot to death while visiting his future stepmother’s home in a Florida community by a former volunteer neighborhood watch captain. Predictably, given the ubiquity of social media and the hot-button nature of the case—a young black man killed in a quiet gated community under questionable circumstances—public emotion rose to a fever pitch and a media frenzy ensued. Sensational headlines, accusations of racism, a masterfully inept police investiga-

tion, and public protest marches have given rise to rampant speculation and Olympic-level jumping to conclusions, even though all of the facts of the case remain unknown. It has fallen to legal analysts and journalists to bring some clarity to a case that has generated plenty of heat but very little light. The mainstream media once had a solid lock on reporting important legal news, whether it was a groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court ruling or a jury verdict in a Florida murder trial. But cable television and the Internet have driven massive changes in how all news is reported, including legal affairs, especially given that the number of sources reporting

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SUNNY HOSTIN IN CNN’S NEW YORK CITY STUDIOS.

or commenting on trials and law has exploded. However, expert and informed legal analysis does exist in the midst of this cacophony if one knows where to look. Asunción “Sunny” Hostin, is a former federal prosecutor and legal analyst for CNN, contributor for In Session on truTV (formerly Court TV), and has been covering the Trayvon Martin case from the beginning. A veteran legal affairs analyst, Hostin has covered many of the major political and legal stories of today including the Casey Anthony, Conrad Murray, Bernie Madoff, and Elliot Spitzer trials, the Duke University rape case, and more.

Hostin has seen firsthand the stampeding and emotional rush to judgment before. In her view, what’s important is for viewers to understand the facts as they are uncovered. Then it is her job, she says, to inform them as to how the law applies to the facts. A journalist’s highest calling is to report the truth without fear or favor. But that doesn’t mean that viewers will necessarily like what they hear. While covering the Casey Anthony trial, Hostin was the first legal analyst to state on-air that she believed the prosecution had not proved their case and that Anthony would be found not guilty of murdering her two-yearold daughter Caylee. Viewers pelted

Hostin with angry emails claiming she was “pro Casey Anthony.” While she was surprised at the fierce intensity of the backlash, Hostin stood firm. “I call it like I see it,” she says. Hostin says she also received “wonderfully supportive” emails from other legal analysts and reporters in the television industry praising her for being fair and unbiased. She sees the same level of passion at work in the Martin case. “People feel strongly and [the Martin case] has become part of the national discourse, which I think is a good thing,” says Hostin, who appreciates that people are interested in the case and talking about the law,

A TRUE LEGAL JOURNALIST, IT IS IMPORTANT TO HEAR ALL SIDES.” – SUNNY HOSTIN MCCA.COM

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DAHLIA LITHWICK HAS HIGH HOPES FOR ONLINE JOURNALISM.

PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO

especially Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law that entitles a person to use force in self-defense without retreating. “Still, we don’t know all of the evidence yet and as a true legal journalist I think it’s important to hear all sides.” Those unknown facts are critical to whether or not the Stand Your Ground law even applies in the Martin case. While the passion people have demonstrated in regard to the case has amplified the drama, heightened public interest provides a great access point for a good legal analyst to explain to viewers how the law pertains. Ryan Smith, host of a newly launched HLN show, “Evening Express,” explains it this way: “It starts with getting to know the people involved in a case,” Smith says. “No one’s going to care if they can’t relate to the people involved. So you lay it out: these are the players, here are the circumstances, this is the story. Then you break down the law, which can usually be done quite simply. The key isn’t how smart you are, the key is in getting other people to understand.” Smith said he learned that as a practicing lawyer. When a client came in with a dilemma, he would learn the facts, find the legal solution, and then explain to the client how the solution and facts fit together. He always found the work engaging, he says, because he has an innate curiosity about everything. For his new career as a legal analyst and anchor, he simply brings his need to discover the “why and how” and communicate that with his audience. Hostin and Smith both say that having practiced law benefits them when it comes to legal analysis. “You have to have a command of the subject matter to make it accessible for other people,” says Hostin. “I wish more trained lawyers could do televised legal commentary, because it really contributes to the understanding of a complex system of laws.” The fundamental belief in the rule of law is what makes our legal system work. The law can only work with the consent of the governed, so public understanding of decisions and the process is critical to the authority of the legal system. While Hostin and Smith love what they do, they recognize that one of the shortcomings of doing televised legal analysis in a rapid-paced world are strict deadlines and limited time. There is an old saying in news: it’s better to be right than to be first. But reporters are only human, and given the time pressures at some point an on-air mistake is inevitable. Hostin found herself in that circumstance last

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RYAN SMITH, HOST OF “EVENING EXPRESS”

February while reporting on the T.J. Lane case. Lane is a 17-year-old who was accused of shooting and killing three students and wounding three students at his suburban Cleveland high school. “I said that I thought he would be charged as an adult and that if found guilty, he might get the death penalty,” said Hostin. She then realized once off air that Lane couldn’t be sentenced to death because he is a juvenile. Lawyers emailed her and commented on her Facebook page to let her know she misspoke. “You can’t always go back on air right away to correct a mistake, so I used social media to issue a correction,” said Hostin, adding that she views this type of media as a godsend. However, social and online media are both a blessing and a curse. It certainly gives reporters another avenue for contact

“NO ONE IS GOING TO CARE IF THEY CAN’T RELATE TO THE PEOPLE INVOLVED.” –RYAN SMITH 25

RYAN SMITH is the host of HLN’s new nightly news program Evening Express (5–7 pm ET), which premiered on June 4, 2012. Helmed by Smith, the weeknight program provides an energetic, inspirational and solutions-oriented look at the day’s news accompanied by deeper discussions and reporting on stories and issues that resonate in the American household. Before hosting Evening Express, Smith was part of the ensemble team on HLN’s Morning Express with Robin Meade and host for In Session on the truTV network. Smith began his career as the Director of Football Administration and Counsel for the National Football League’s Jacksonville

Jaguars and went on to practice at some of the nation’s largest firms. He started his own firm, J Ryan and Associates, and eventually transitioned to become a partner at Zuber and Tallieu, LLP. Smith added TV to his résumé as host of the spirited debate show My Two Cents on the BETJ (now Centric) network. After that he hosted Animal Planet’s Underdog to Wonderdog, telling the stories of abused and abandoned animals who found safe homes with new families, then made the transition to HLN and truTV. Smith grew up the son of a college professor and an art teacher in Philadelphia. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and Columbia Law School.

YOU ARE, THE KEY IS IN GETTING OTHER PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND.” – RYAN SMITH MCCA.COM

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with the viewing public, but at the same time, traditional media competes with social and online media, which is always available and can be updated at any time. New developments in any case or trial can be posted to the Web 24/7. Dahlia Lithwick, a senior editor at Slate.com, lives in that online world. “A reporter at ABC news on a huge case gets 30 seconds,” says Lithwick. “Fourteen hundred words isn’t a lot but it’s a lot more than some people get.” She says referring to a standard blog post. DAHLIA LITHWICK, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR TO SLATE.COM

DAHLIA LITHWICK grew up in a middle class family in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and has dual Canadian/U.S. citizenship. She moved to the U.S. to study at Yale University, where she received a B.A. in English in 1990 before earning her J.D. from Stanford. Lithwick worked several years at Paul Newman’s camp for terminally ill kids in Connecticut and believed she wanted to practice family law, specifically as an advocate for children. After law school she clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and then worked at a Reno, Nevada family law firm for two years. In actuality she found family law depressing, but discovered that she loved writing about the law for the general public. Lithwick was the first online journalist invited to serve on the Steering Committee for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Lithwick, who has a law degree from Stanford University, writes the “Supreme Court Dispatches” and “Jurisprudence” columns for the online magazine. Her articles have also appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, The Washington Post and Commentary, among other outlets. Lithwick, like hundreds of other legal scholars and journalists, is, as of this writing, analyzing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold key parts of the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration’s major health care overhaul that faced a test of its constitutionality this session. While discussing the ramifications of the decision, she reflects on how legal journalism has changed and moved forward over the last decade. “Some of the best legal minds in the world have climbed down from the ivory tower of academia and are writing legal blogs,” thus making informed legal analysis by learned experts much more available and accessible, says Lithwick. “The best among them are amazing.” In terms of the Internet, the democratization of legal news coverage has both benefits and liabilities. Brilliant law

“AS A TRUE LEGAL JOURNALIST, IT IS IMPORTANT TO HEAR ALL SIDES.” – SUNNY HOSTIN professors have a platform to discuss and dissect the issues of the day, but citizen journalists also can throw up a Web site and call what they do “legal affairs” coverage whether they actually understand the facts and law or not. In Lithwick’s opinion, the Supreme Court especially makes broader, deeper, and more accurate reporting in legal affairs difficult by not allowing cameras in the courtroom, much like C-Span covers the U.S. Congress. But whether or not cameras are ever allowed into the Supreme Court, Hostin, Smith, and Lithwick will all still have a job to do. All three view their legal training and what it has led them to as a type of public service. Neither Hostin, Smith, nor Lithwick can predict the future of legal journalism in a rapidly changing journalistic world, but they all play a vital role in keeping us accurately informed

“SOME OF THE BEST LEGAL MINDS IN THE WORLD HAVE CLIMBED DOWNFPOFROM THE IV DIVERSITY & THE BAR® JULY/AUGUST 2012

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SUNNY HOSTIN partially credits her upbringing with her path in life. She grew up in a workingclass family in the South Bronx, the child of a Puerto Rican mother and African American father. She had family members and friends who sold drugs or were involved in other types of crime as well as family and friends who lived on the right side of the law. But, her mother and father instilled her with good values regarding education, hard work, and success. In fact, Hostin says her parents were also her greatest role models. Through their own hard work—her mother got her degree after eight years of part-time college and her father became a senior staffer at the Lorillard Tobacco Company after computer programming classes—they moved the family from the South Bronx to Manhattan. Hostin attended college at Binghamton University, where she received her undergraduate degree in communications before earning her law degree at Notre Dame. She eventually became a federal prosecutor. At the U.S. Department of Justice, Hostin prosecuted child-sex predators and worked with child sex abuse victims. In 2007, she joined CNN as the legal analyst for “American Morning,” where she created, wrote, and produced her popular weekly segment, “Sunny’s Law,” which answered viewer questions on various legal issues. Before joining CNN, Hostin could be seen on the Fox News Channel, where she appeared weekly on The O’Reilly Factor’s “Is It Legal?” segment.

When asked why she chose to become a prosecutor instead of a defense attorney, she responded: “My parents taught me the difference between right and wrong and that regardless of your circumstances, there is no reason to break the law.”

about how and why the system works the way it does. It’s true that we as spectators find trials fascinating, but our relationship to the legal system is not simply voyeuristic. An informed and engaged public is critical to the sustainability of a strong and effective democracy based on adherence to the law. In colonial times, people went to the public square to hear the news of the day. Now we live in a global village where media plays an ever larger role in fostering public engagement and trust in our system of government and the rule of law. It is hardly a perfect sys-

HOSTIN IS A FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR.

tem and we can always work toward making it better, but as Ryan Smith puts it: “It is the system that we’ve chosen and it is a pretty good one.” Hostin, Smith, and Lithwick take their part in maintaining public trust in media and the law seriously. They stake their credibility, integrity, and reputations on it every day. D&B

ORY TOWER OF ACADEMIA AND ARE WRITING LEGAL BLOGS.” – DAHLIA LITHWICK MCCA.COM

JULY/AUGUST 2012 DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

THE LEGACY

JOHN PAYTON of

THE LEGAL WORLD LOST AN ICON THIS YEAR. JOHN PAYTON, THE EMINENT CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY, PASSED AWAY ON MARCH 22, 2012. HIS LEGACY WILL CONTINUE TO INFLUENCE AND INSPIRE THE LIVES OF MILLIONS.

HE WAS BRILLIANT. That’s one of the adjectives those who knew the late civil rights titan and gifted litigator John A. Payton best use when asked to describe his defining feature. They immediately cite his intellect. Brilliant is inevitably followed by generous, indefatigable, and always, always funny. Well-loved and admired, Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF), deeply believed lawyers have an obligation to be agents for change. It was a belief he acted on throughout his long and successful career, and actively encouraged other lawyers to do the same.

ATTORNEYS DEBO ADEGBILE, LEFT, AND JOHN PAYTON WITH THE LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND OF THE NAACP WALK DOWN THE STEPS IN FRONT OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IN WASHINGTON D.C., APRIL 29, 2009, AFTER ORAL ARGUMENTS IN A VOTING RIGHTS ACT CASE.

JOHN PAYTON ADDRESSES SUPPORTERS AT A STAND FOR FREEDOM RALLY.

ot surprisingly, Payton’s unexpected death from multiple myeloma on March 22 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has left large swaths of the legal community reeling. On hearing news of his death, President Obama issued a statement praising Payton “as a true champion of equality [who] helped protect civil rights in the classroom and at the ballot box. The legal community has lost a legend, and while we mourn John’s passing, we will never forget his courage and fierce opposition to discrimination in all its forms.” DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

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A champion of civil rights since his college days, Payton (who was 65 when he died) worked to ensure the rights of U.S. minorities and black South Africans while also serving as a mentor and advocate for young lawyers. Throughout much of his multi-decade career, Payton was a partner in private practice where he excelled as both commercial litigator and civil rights attorney. He joined the LDF in 2008. “John was the first LDF director-counsel to come from outside the organization. We waited in anticipation to see what direction he’d take us and what his particular imprimatur on the LDF would be,” says Debo P. Adegbile, acting director-counsel. “Though we had great faith in his ability, we still wondered what his lens would be on criminal justice issues MCCA.COM

or some pieces of the docket with which a longtime commercial and civil rights litigator might be less familiar. Any questions were quickly put to rest.” In his early days at the LDF, says Adegbile, Payton brought vigor and optimism to the job. He conveyed an understanding about what battles the organization needed to wage and how to arrive at the right outcomes. From the start he was a strong leader, but what most impressed Adegbile and his colleagues was Payton’s ability to use his civil rights experience as an entry point to gain a profound understanding of the interconnectedness of the LDF’s four program areas: criminal and economic justice, democratic engagement, and education. As head of the LDF, Payton famously argued Lewis v. City of Chicago. In the 2010 case, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously concluded that a group of African American firefighter applicants had filed a timely charge of race discrimination against the city of Chicago. “It was an incredibly exhilarating thing to see. John was the master litigator at the height of his powers,” says Adegbile. “Because Payton came to the LDF at a later stage of his career, he worked hard to train the younger lawyers,” says Adegbile, “He attended LDF moot court sessions, helping to prepare litigators to argue cases in federal courts around the country. He worked hard to create opportunities for all lawyers at the LDF, encouraging us to expand our horizons, reach beyond our comfort zones, and more robustly embrace the full possibilities of LDF’s work on behalf of our clients.” Prior to the LDF, Payton was a partner at WilmerHale. “He didn’t come to the firm by accident,” says Craig Goldblatt, a partner in WilmerHale’s bankruptcy and financial restructuring group. “The notion that it’s a lawyer’s obligation to do things beyond representing clients who can pay us is in the fiber of this place. And while the firm’s values and culture were not forged singlehandedly by John, he played a critical role in living them every day and reminding us of our obligations to do the same.”

“THE LEGAL COMMUNITY HAS LOST A LEGEND, AND WHILE WE MOURN JOHN’S PASSING, WE WILL NEVER FORGET HIS COURAGE AND FIERCE OPPOSITION TO DISCRIMINATION IN ALL ITS FORMS.” –PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

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While in private practice, Payton was lead counsel on two high-profile University of Michigan affirmative action cases. In 2003 he led the defense in companion cases addressing the issue of universities’ ability to consider race, among other factors, in their admissions decisions. Payton built the cases in the trial court and appellate courts in Gratz v. Bollinger before the U.S. Supreme Court. Payton defended the university’s practice of considering race among other factors in its undergraduate admission policy. The high court ruled against the university. Payton also led defense of the companion case Grutter v. Bollinger (involving admissions policy of the university’s law school). He didn’t, however, argue the case before the Supreme Court which ultimately ruled in the university’s favor. The Supreme Court’s decision decisively embraced the diversity rationale, and permitted the consideration of race together with other factors. That ruling has governed college admissions across the nation since but will be revisited by the Supreme Court in the fall in Fisher v. University of Texas, another case in which Payton played a key role. Everywhere he practiced, Payton is fondly remembered for energetically fostering the careers of young lawyers, giving them responsibilities on matters that seemed a level above what they were accustomed JULY/AUGUST 2012

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to doing. “In the pit of your stomach you thought that he might have entrusted with you more reasonability than you could shoulder,” recalls Goldblatt. “But I do think that his demonstration of faith in us was good. It allowed us to accomplish more than we otherwise might have.” During the Michigan cases, Payton trusted then-midlevel associate Goldblatt with taking a vital deposition and questioning a key witness. “The national spotlight was trained on Michigan. Payton might have very well handled everything himself, but he thought it would be good for me and make me grow as lawyer. Of course, I was scared to death, but he was right.” Danielle Conley, a litigator at WilmerHale since 2006, says Payton was a champion of recruitment and retention of lawyers of color. “It was John who convinced me that Wilmer was the place where I could be in private practice and still work on civil rights and social justice issues. Without him I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am forever grateful.” While colleagues at the firm were sorry to see him leave for the LDF, they understood the importance of the move. As president and director-counsel, Payton was the sixth person hired to fill a position created and first held by Thurgood Marshall. It was historic really, says Goldblatt, and made a perfect capstone to Payton’s long and illustrious career. Those who knew him agree, Payton’s sense All historical photos courtesy of Pomona College. of humor ranked high among his myriad TOP: POMONA COLLEGE CARNEGIE BUILDING CIRCA 1965 estimable qualities. “Though John was a man of impressive BOTTOM: JOHN PAYTON AT BOTTOM LEFT bearing and seriousness,” says Adegbile, “he had an impish sense of humor. We teased each other mercilessly. I’ll miss that a lot.” Payton’s wife, Gay McDougall, concurs. “When we’d go to first West Coast companies to insure African Americans; he dinner with friends, ours would inevitably be the loudest table was an intellectual in his own right.” in the restaurant because John would be making us laugh so Both siblings and friends from his early days agree, hard. Fun and humor were a part of everything we’d do.” adds McDougall, Payton possessed an exceptional Payton was born in Los Angeles in 1946. “His parents intellect. From the beginning he was a voracious reader, were both highly motivated,” says McDougall. “His mother intrigued by many disciplines including history, math, [Ida Mae Payton] was a school teacher. She died when John science, and literature. was about 19. His father [John Payton Sr.], whom I got to He enrolled at Pomona College in California in 1965 know quite well, was an insurance adjuster for one of the where, as one of the few black students on campus, he was DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

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active in civil rights. Throughout McDougall describes his undergraduate years, Payton Payton’s time at the LDF as worked and studied part-time, the jewel in the crown of his ultimately graduating with a remarkable career. “John was B.S. degree in Mathematics exactly where he needed to in 1973. Payton attended be. The job played on all his Harvard Law School during strengths and who he was. the Boston busing crisis when Right up until a week before legally mandated desegregahe went into the hospital, tion of public schools erupted John was traveling the country into protests and riots. As a law giving speeches and raising student, he worked on taking money for LDF causes. He affidavits from African American was on fire, loving every day students who were injured in of his job.” Matters important the race-related violence. After to him toward the end of his graduating in 1977, he clerked for life include the ballot initiative Judge Cecil F. Poole of the U.S. he organized under the LDF District Court for the Northern banner to alter the Three Strikes District of California (the first Law in California, and raising African American federal judge awareness about the “School-toin Northern California), and Prison Pipeline,” an increasingly —DEBO P. ADEGBILE then moved to Washington, D.C. prevalent cycle in which mostly where he joined Wilmer Cutler students of color, particularly Pickering Hale and Dorr (now WilmerHale). African American boys, are systematically funneled out of He took leave from the firm in the early 1990s to serve school and into the streets and the juvenile correction sysas the Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia, tem. He was also leading the team that mounted a defense and in 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated him to be in the University of Texas pursuit of diversity through assistant attorney general for civil rights. admissions in Fisher v. University of Texas. The important After a year, Payton left D.C. for South Africa where his affirmative action case, slated to go before the U.S. Supreme wife was working as a member of the Independent Electoral Court later this year, challenges the precedent that Payton Commission. Payton served on an international observer helped to establish with the Michigan cases. team that included members from the Lawyers’ Committee Payton’s illness was brief and his death unanticipated, for Civil Rights Under Law. leaving his wife unprepared and shocked. His colleagues “For him to join me in South Africa was a natural culminaand friends were equally stunned. “At LDF, we felt we had tion of John’s central role in the anti-apartheid movement in lost our leader mid-conversation,” says Adegbile. “He was the U.S.,” says McDougall, a visiting professor at Georgetown vigorous and in command of himself. It seemed like he’d University Law Center and a renowned expert on minority go on forever. issues. The couple met in 1980 as a result of their anti-apart“John had both great intellect and curiosity. They don’t heid activities; she was a full-time activist and he was involved always come together. He wasn’t just a lawyer. He was also in groups that included TransAfrica and the 1985 Free South an eloquent translator of the imperative for full civil rights Africa Movement. They were married in 1993. to nourish citizenship and humanity.” “One of the major tactics that lit up the movement were Payton understood that the great victories involve hard the daily demonstrations in front of the South African work; they don’t happen overnight and aren’t achieved by Embassy in D.C. John led a committee of lawyers that was one person, adds Adegbile. Similarly, he knew the civil organized to get the protestors who came forward to be rights struggle is not a sprint but a relay, and accordingly he arrested out of jail every day for over a year. That was an had prepared a new generation of civil rights attorneys to integral piece of the organizing structure of the movement.” whom he could pass the baton. Yes, brilliant, indeed. D&B

“JOHN HAD BOTH GREAT INTELLECT AND CURIOSITY. HE WASN’T JUST A LAWYER. HE WAS ALSO AN ELOQUENT TRANSLATOR OF THE IMPERATIVE FOR FULL CIVIL RIGHTS TO NOURISH CITIZENSHIP AND HUMANITY.”

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DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

AN INTERVIEW WITH John Payton JOHN PAYTON WAS A 22-YEAR-OLD COLLEGE STUDENT WHEN POMONA TODAY, THE COLLEGE PAPER, INTERVIEWED HIM IN JULY 1969. THE INTERVIEW IS REPUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION FROM POMONA COLLEGE.

JOHN PAYTON, WHO WILL GRADUATE ONE SEMESTER BEHIND HIS CLASS DUE TO ILLNESS, IS ONE OF OUR BRIGHTEST STUDENTS. A National Institute of Health scholar as a freshman, he has changed his major from pre-med to zoology to history to math (“all of which I thought I could be good at”) to English (“which I like”). He is spending the summer teaching teachers as part of an institute on student involvement at Pitzer College. Q: HOW DO YOU FEEL THE BLACK STUDIES CENTER IN CLAREMONT COMPARES WITH PROGRAMS THAT EITHER EXIST, OR ARE BEING SET UP, IN OTHER AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES?

A: That’s somewhat difficult to answer, since our Center doesn’t exist as yet, and for the most part, neither do any of the others. Realizing this I would say that our center has the most flexibility and a minimally acceptable budget, which gives it the best chance to be the best. DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

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Q: THE ORGANIZATION OF BLACK STUDENTS INTO GROUPS LIKE OUR BLACK STUDENTS UNION HAS TROUBLED MANY WHITE PEOPLE. IT SEEMS LIKE A RETURN TO SEGREGATION, A TURNING AWAY FROM SUCH LITTLE PROGRESS AS HAS BEEN MADE TOWARDS INTEGRATION…

A: Let me make some distinctions. Segregation, as it has been and still is, is enforced by power and guided by racism. It’s a product of racism and black people have no choice as to its existence. It has been harmful because it’s insulting, degrading, and oppressive. What is occurring among black students today, in the form of BSU’s and other organizations is not segregation, but aggregation. We choose to be together and that is a very different thing. Q: HOW “TOGETHER” ARE YOU? WHAT TRUTH IS THERE TO THE RUMOR THAT THERE IS A NATIONAL BLACK STUDENTS ASSOCIATION?

A: First of all, there is no national organization of black students or Black Students Unions. But the

implication of the question is that if there were such an organization it would constitute something horrible. The fact of the matter is that the oppressive situations which black students in particular, and black people in general, find themselves in this country are remarkably similar. And this is a well-known fact. This is a racist society no matter where you are in it. Thus the similarity between black student demands and proposals around this country is due mainly to similar circumstances. And speaking specifically about our situation, we wrote to other black students and faculty, we asked them what they were doing. To so grotesquely distort the issue by asking what is wrong with black students is rather indicative of the tenor of this country. The question to be asked is what is wrong with this country, and the answer has been around for a long time. As long as this country has. Putting us down as a conspiracy is the easy way out. It turns us into the “enemy” in a “war” to be fought by “law and order.” It evades the issues, the ideas, and the facts. It is based on fear and racism, not reason. MCCA.COM

Q: WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THE CRITICISM THAT THE BLACK STUDIES PROGRAM IS NOT ACADEMICALLY RESPECTABLE?

JOHN PAYTON WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF POMONA’S BLACK STUDENT ASSOCIATION.

Q: LET US TAKE AN ISSUE, AN IDEA.

Q: ANOTHER CRITICISM OF THE

ONE IDEA BEHIND THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK STUDIES IS THAT BLACK STUDENTS WILL RETURN TO THE GHETTO TO SPEND THEIR LIVES HELPING THEIR PEOPLE AND THAT THEY NEED PREPARATIONS FOR THAT. SOME OF YOUR CRITICS SAY THAT IT IS MERELY FADDISH TO THINK THAT ALL BLACK COLLEGE STUDENTS WILL WANT TO BE SOCIAL WORKERS. WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT?

BLACK STUDIES CENTER GOES THIS WAY: THAT IT WAS HASTILY CONCEIVED AND THAT IT WAS PUT THROUGH—TOO FAST—UNDER PRESSURE…

A: I don’t think we’ve said that all black students are going to be social workers. I’m not, for one. What we’ve said is this: in the old days if you were black you came to a place like Pomona to escape, to get away from ghetto life, to move into the American Dream. Well, we don’t like that Dream anymore—it is a nightmare to us. Future black students in places like this will become doctors, lawyers, teachers, businessmen—but whatever they do they will go back to their people. We know this. Junior high kids in Project Open Future already feel this way: they don’t want to move away. So this is not a “fad.” It is a “trend.” And one I don’t see changing. MCCA.COM

A: Yes, I know. “The fastest move the Colleges ever made” and so on. Well, let me try to answer. First of all, as to its conception: it took us some months to put together that plan, to try to find the best educational program possible for black students. And behind that I suppose it had been gestating in all of us for years. In many ways it represents answers to all the frustrations and disappointments we had in years of mis-education. Secondly, as to the “speed” with which it went through: I suppose as changes go it was fast, but I can’t believe any similar change ever got as much consideration or discussion. I know that for a period of three and a half weeks I was in some meeting or other for an average of about 10 hours a day. Finally, as to pressure: we had the pressure of committed people, black and white. But despite what Governor Reagan is fond of saying, there was no violence caused by the BSU and no strike.

A: At this point in history black students can no longer afford the burden of second-rate education nor the luxury of Mickey Mouse courses. That is what the Black Studies Center is all about. The academic respectability of a course has nothing to do with scholarship, but it has everything to do with learning. As anyone in college can tell you, the relationship between scholarship and the ability to teach is, at best, vague. Meaningful and useful learning, what is meant by the term relevance, is what we want. Q: NOW THAT IT’S OVER, WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST PLEASURE AND YOUR BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN THIS BUSY YEAR?

A: I am far too realistic to think that it is all over, that someone up in the clouds has snapped their fingers and therefore the world, or even Pomona College, is fixed. No, it just doesn’t work that way. What was my biggest pleasure? I was going to answer that it was knowing that we were right, but that is hardly a pleasure, it is just another challenge. Our disappointments stemmed from the fact that knowing we were right, we were powerless to do anything about it. The Trustees had the power to do anything they wanted, no matter how long we talked to anybody. The action of the Trustees reflected two things. First it reflected the fact that they had no comprehension of what was happening on the campus, and second it showed that, for now, the exercise of their power did not depend on comprehension of the issues at all. JULY/AUGUST 2012

DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

ADVERTORIAL

The Crumbie Law Group/Hinckley, Allen & Snyder Strategic Alliance:

INITIAL SUCCESSES

Late last October, Crumbie Law Group, LLC, the largest state-certified Minority Business Enterprise law firm in New England, and Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP, a 130+ lawyer multi-services business law firm, announced a strategic alliance. At the end of March, their fifth month of implementing initial internal development plans and pursuing selected new business opportunities, they reported their progress to us on a program that might well be an industry model. The strategic alliance of Crumbie Law Group (CLG) and Hinckley, Allen & Snyder (HAS) is actively aimed at expanding each firm’s client base and providing clients with a team of diverse lawyers highly experienced in sophisticated litigation and business law. “Our alliance is structured as a transitional bridge to the future—to two futures,” said Marc Crisafulli, who became HAS managing partner last fall. “Our objective is to improve both firms’ independent operations although we expect to have a longterm relationship co-counseling clients that are best served by combining the unique skills and experience of both firms’ attorneys.” CLG, a MBE-certified boutique firm of 12 attorneys founded by Andrew Crumbie in 2008, focuses on litigation, corporate investigations, municipal services, and commercial transactions. Some of the firm’s practice areas developed naturally from Andrew Crumbie’s 20-year career in Connecticut law enforcement in positions that included, among others, assignment for several years to the FBI as a task force agent working closely with the office of Connecticut’s U.S. Attorney and later Chief of Staff to

the State’s Commissioner. In addition several attorneys at CLG have over 25 years of complex litigation and municipal law experience. Those practice areas complement Hinckley Allen’s, which span all areas of corporate and business law, complex litigation, public finance, construction and public contracts, banking and financial institutions, employee benefits and executive compensation, gaming, labor and employment, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, municipal restructuring, real estate, healthcare, intellectual property, and trusts and estates. The two firms are pursuing targeted opportunities together—“in a way that is very resource-sustainable for both firms—in areas where neither firm would be likely to succeed alone, either because we need a deeper bench on the diversity side or because CLG needs more experience with large-firm clients,” Crisafulli said. “We’re getting a terrific client response so far and a terrific response internally,” he said, a statement enthusiastically endorsed by Andrew Crumbie. According to Crumbie, “One huge success is new work with a private equity client with whom we had the contact and Hinckley Allen had the expertise.”

The fund-to-funds client is one of several that he and William S. Fish Jr., a HAS partner, have been approaching together. Fish has been deeply involved in planning and implementing the alliance since he and Crumbie met at a charitable event and concluded after several conversations that such an alliance could benefit both firms. “Another promising practice area involves corporate and government investigations, and one where we are starting to work jointly on some significant issues for a major utility,” Fish said, “Other areas showing great potential are commercial litigation and corporate transactions, where we see a big opportunity for work with some of the larger corporations in the Northeast. I also see potential work in specialty areas such as intellectual property and ERISA law.” What sets the CLG-HAS strategic alliance apart is a major effort to build a mutually beneficial foundation for success even before those opportunities arise. Before the alliance was announced, CLG attorneys began attending continuing legal education sessions, an internally run program developed and staffed by HAS attorneys. CLG lawyers also are invited to other professional development events hosted by HAS. Most importantly, a six-month rotational program for CLG associates is enabling them to develop the hands-on legal experience that might only be found in a large multipractice firm by working closely with HAS partners and mentors. That began in mid-November with the assignment of Heidi Hamilton, an attorney who practices in CLG’s municipal services, litigation and trial, and business services groups, to HAS’ Hartford office on a contract basis. There she is working closely with Bill Fish, Bill Bouton and William H. Champlin, another HAS partner, who reviews her work and has become her mentor. While her 13-year career had provided her with experience in other law firms in New York and commercial and transactional experience that

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included a construction and real estate specialty, Hamilton appreciates the opportunity to work in more complex and technical areas. “I’ve already worked on two cases to be argued before the Connecticut Supreme Court when normally my work would involve Superior Court matters,” she said. “I’ve also had the opportunity to work for the corporate department on transactional matters and my previous litigation experience provided the foundation to draft objections to claims filed in a media bankruptcy case. Working with HAS partners, as part of their litigation and corporate team is invaluable.” “What is interesting about this alliance is that it didn’t take six months or a year for the concept to be vetted and articulated in a white paper,” she said. “It took human beings with a vision, and willingness to be open to possibilities as they evolve. By immediately working together, we will understand our unique contributions

and be ready to work collaboratively when a strategic alliance project is identified.” In preparation for working more closely with Hinckley Allen in other geographic markets, the Crumbie Law Group already has closed its Boston office and opened another at 28 State Street, the same building and floor where HAS is located. A CLG attorney in that office also will be part of the rotational program. In addition, Crumbie said that CLG will open offices near HAS offices in Providence, R.I., and Concord, N.H., as soon as sufficient revenue streams are identified there. As for improving the diversity environment of the 110-year-old Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, “We anticipate Andrew becoming involved with our diversity committee,” said HAS managing partner Crisafulli. “Right now we are restructuring the committee and changing our approach. I look at CLG’s assistance

as a valuable accelerator to our efforts to recruit and retain the best minority lawyers, as CLG has been able to do. We also want to continue other HAS initiatives long-term. For example, we’re starting a diversity scholarship program at Georgetown University. And although we’ve been fairly successful in hiring and retaining women attorneys, we’re also changing our approach there and creating a new women’s initiative.” “Marc and I have had some conversations about diversity and as the owner of a minority firm with a multicultural approach and 50 percent of women in leadership roles, I think I can lend a fair amount of knowledge to this, and I’m looking forward to it,” Crumbie said. “Overall,” he observed, “the strategic alliance is a very nontraditional initiative we’re taking. Law firms, historically, are very traditional. We’re trying something new. It is very exciting, not only for us but for clients and prospective clients as well.”

DISTINCTION IN

DIVERSITY In today’s global marketplace, a culture of diversity and inclusion is integral to business success. To advance this mission and better serve clients, Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP and Crumbie Law Group LLC formed a strategic alliance that enables each firm to serve collaboratively as co-counsel on legal engagements. We are leading the way in advancing diversity issues, and we are proud of this distinction.

www.crumbielaw.com

www.haslaw.com

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TH EVO E OF LU TIO N

Y T I S R E V I D

The days of the “feel good” campaigns around diversity are a thing of the past. Today, law ﬁrms of all sizes are making inclusion and retention their top priority, with an emphasis on breaking down unconscious barriers that work to derail well-intentioned diversity recruitment programs and create a revolving door for qualiﬁed but frustrated lawyers of difference.

iversity efforts have historically been based on numbers, tapping a diverse talent pool in an attempt to get some lawyers of color in the door, according to diversity experts. In many cases, those efforts were measured by anecdotal evidence only. Today, diversity leaders like Kathleen Nalty are calling for a renewed focus on true inclusion and retention to ensure that minorities and those historically underrepresented in the legal profession are not only at the table, but that they are mentored, promoted, networked, and their voices truly heard. As executive director for the Denver-based Center for Legal Inclusiveness (CLI), Nalty is dedicated to the cause of helping law firms pick up what she describes as “the second half of the equation—advancement and retention.”

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“As long as we only chase the numbers, we will never make progress since many diverse attorneys once hired leave or don’t reach their potential,” Nalty says. “Diversity is about counting people, inclusiveness is about making people count.” CLI is a nonprofit dedicated to advancing diversity in the legal profession by actively educating and supporting private and public sector legal organizations to create cultures of inclusion. CLI has partnered with MCCA to provide inclusiveness training for its new Academy for Leadership and Inclusiveness. CLI’s work includes an online campaign “Step Up for Diversity,” a grassroots initiative designed to motivate attorneys nationwide to take small steps for big change for diversity and inclusiveness in the legal profession. CLI is a clearinghouse for information on diversity and inclusiveness best practices.

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Nalty, along with Dr. Arin Reeves, president next points that we need to focus on as we conof Nextions, LLC, a leadership and inclusion tinue to create a more inclusive environment.” consulting firm, also developed the Inclusiveness Manual Beyond Diversity: Inclusiveness MOVING FROM DIVERSITY in the Legal Workplace, (www. TO INCLUSION legalinclusiveness.org) which The conversation has outlines specific steps changed from the 1990s organizations can take when “diversity” was to create an inclusive a buzzword that work culture. made everyone More specifically, feel good, but the manual did little to helps firms break down understand barriers in the differworkplace ence between culture. traditional According diversity to many efforts and leaders in inclusiveness the field initiatives and of diversity how to remove recruitment hidden barriand retention, ers that impede early diversity the effectiveness of training was the diversity programs and first part of the conincrease retention. versation, but inclusion Robert Grey, executive completes it. KATHLEEN NALTY director of the Leadership Council “There was a great amount of DIRECTOR OF THE on Legal Diversity (LCLD), is optimisgoodwill, but frustration about all CENTER FOR LEGAL tic that firms can build on the diversity of the outreach efforts not actually INCLUSIVENESS progress that has been made. manifesting into minorities and “We reached a certain level that women in high levels in law firms,” indicates a moderate degree of success,” Grey says Vernã Myers, who as principal of Vernã says. “We have to take the next steps to figure Myers Consulting Group, LLC, in Baltimore, has out how to take those lawyers that we recruited been on the frontline of advising law firms about who are now more senior in organizations to the recruitment and retention since 1992. “After a level of leaders and indispensable members who while, they realized it wasn’t sticking. The attriwork on client projects. That’s not diversity; that tion issue made people question why they weren’t is more inclusiveness—it’s a different level of able to retain people.” opportunity.” A former corporate and real estate attorney, Grey notes that the real work begins now that Myers has also worked as Deputy Chief of Staff people understand and generally accept the need for the Attorney General of Massachusetts, where for a diverse talent pool. The groundwork has she designed and led a comprehensive diversity been set for diversity 2.0. initiative. Under her leadership as executive direc“How do we take advantage of a newfound tor of The Boston Law Firm Group, a consortium talent pool?” Grey says. “What do we do to of the largest law firms in Boston committed to ensure that they are getting the training, assignincreasing the representation of attorneys of color, ments, and are being looked at for leadership the group made significant progress in minority positions in our organizations? Those are the recruitment and addressing issues of retention.

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“I was part of a She says she’s optirecruiting law firm mistic about the group in Boston, capacity for firms and we reached to change. “You a plateau. I need people to was starting keep pushto realize ing. I see it was the some people environment understandthat we were ing this,” inviting Myers says. people “Change into that happens needed to once an be changed,” organization Myers says. realizes that “First and it cannot get a foremost is the different result issue of culture,” without changing she says. “It’s so hard what they do. I think to change because of the people are starting to see. invisibles—implicit bias— It’s been a course correction by VERNĀ MYERS where people are acting out of looking at this idea of inclusion.” MYERS IS PRINCIPAL their stereotypes without realizing OF HER EPONYMOUS that they are doing it. Their response RETAINING GOOD TALENT CONSULTING GROUP. is based on an implicit bias that Firms are seeking a more commight be quite different than their mon sense approach to the issue explicit beliefs.” of retention, development, and advancement Myers offers three basic steps for firm leaders of female and diverse attorneys (racial/ethnic to change the conversation from diversity minorities and LGBT). Since 2004, the legal to inclusion: profession has slipped to last place among all other professions in terms of representation by • Become more culturally competent. racially/ethnically diverse attorneys, accordDevelop skills, knowledge, and attitude that ing to a study conducted by the American Bar show white supervisors how to work with Association. Only 11 percent of attorneys in the people who are different. United States are racial/ethnic minorities com• Get out of denial. Go looking for your biases pared to over 30 percent of the workforce, accordand counter them. ing to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. • Own your privilege without feeling guilty “The legal profession is frequently at the botabout it. Accept the fact that you have privilege tom of the list, literally we’re stuck in last place,” and figure out how to use it. says Nalty of the Center for Legal Inclusiveness. That frustrates her since “we are the guardians “That’s on a personal level, but it also of equity and justice and we are the worst. That’s translates organizationally as well,” says Myers, part of what drives me. I’ve seen so many people’s author of Moving Diversity Forward: How To Go dreams ripped to shreds. From Well-Meaning to Well-Doing and the forth“New attorneys of color believe the myth that coming follow-up What If I Say the Wrong Thing: hard work is the ticket to success,” Nalty says. Learning the Language of Inclusion. “The organiza“They don’t yet know that the intangibles are tion has to know where the biases [are] embedded critical to their advancement and future opportuin the evaluation and promotion process.” nities. Many of these attorneys get left out if they

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minority. Attorneys of color, LGBT OR S N O attorneys, and women too often get P S A pushed to the margins and become Y L E L V A A E outside players.” H R T ʼ O T N Cedric M. Powell, has been on O S S D E both sides as a former corpoU C C O T A Y N , rate attorney and now a law F E I I R “ L O C T ” . professor at Louis D. Brandeis N D T E of Law, where he OR M WORK, AN T LEFT OU ALT Y School prepares law students to E N D G take their first jobs. N O E U O E O L G Y He teaches his students H , T T A C K A to not only know law, but T — to understand how to CON navigate the legal profession. “I tell my students a number of things that have a sponsor goes across or mentor, the board,” access to Powell says. really good “First you work, and have to client conunderstand tact. There’s the context a lot more to you are in, it than techniunderstand cal skill and working hard work.” relationships, CLI’s Incland the culture of usiveness Manual the institution you offers the foundaare working in. There tion and framework to are a lot of unwritten help understand the new rules, and a lot of rules and paradigm of inclusiveness and signals they have to interpret. I CEDRIC POWELL the tools to create an inclusive worktell them that they have to really LAW PROFESSOR AT place that works for everyone within it. understand what people are like. The customizable manual gives examples LOUIS D. BRANDEIS “Then they have to make SCHOOL OF LAW of successful inclusiveness initiatives, help sure they reach out and make in understanding the impact of invisible relationships that work within that barriers and methods for removing them. context,” Powell says. “I think it’s a two-way street. “There are serious systemic issues and barriThere has to be empathy and understanding on the ers that are hidden from people in the majority,” other side—corporations don’t get off the hook with Nalty said. “We help them to see it. Females and a mentoring program. I can’t tell you the number of diverse attorneys have less access to clients, less times those don’t work.” access to intelligence in the organization. Research Powell encourages students to do their part by shows that people give opportunities to others like meeting and exceeding expectations as they enter themselves. That’s affinity bias—and its a serious the profession because despite qualifications, in systemic issue that creates barriers for those in the today’s society “race still matters.” D&B

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JULY/AUGUST 2012 DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

ASSOCIATION FOCUS

BY MICHELLE NEALY

GENERATION HOPE NICOLE LYNN LEWIS IS PASSIONATE ABOUT HELPING TEEN PARENTS GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE because she knows firsthand the challenges that

come with being a mom and a full-time student. A former teen mother herself, Lewis created Generation Hope two years ago. The nonprofit organization is designed to help teen parents beat the odds and finish college by providing scholarships and mentors. Generation Hope links teen parents—mothers or fathers—attending colleges and universities in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area with mentors, also called sponsors, who provide emotional and financial support. The multi-year partnership between teen parent and mentor lasts for the duration of the students’ collegiate career. Generation Hope is assisting seven young parents, known as scholars, persist through college, and is working to add at least a dozen more to their ranks. Jenny Chacon, a 21-year-old criminal justice major at Montgomery College, based in Rockville, Md., became a Generation Hope scholar in 2011. Chacon says the program is providing the emotional support that she has always longed for. “I’ve never been close with my mom, and I didn’t grow up with my dad. I don’t have a strong support system. The biggest help that Generation Hope has provided is a mentor. If I call her at 3 a.m. she always there,” Chacon says. The Montgomery College student never intended to go to college. “In my culture, you are raised to work,” the Salvadoran-American says. But when Chacon discovered that she was pregnant, her views concerning higher education changed. “I decided to go to school. My son is my main motivation. I want to get a good job and give him everything that I didn’t have,” says Chacon of her two-year-old son Jeremiah. Chacon receives $1,200 from Generation Hope each semester. Generation Hope sponsors include pediatricians, lawyers, and business owners. Some have also been teen parents. “We recruit sponsors through our website and the relationships that we have in the community,” says Lewis. “Many come to us looking for an opportunity to give to an organizaDIVERSITY & THE BAR®

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tion where they can see their support making a difference.” Sponsors undergo a background investigation and mandatory training that prepares them for the stress, stigmatization, and instability that teen parents may experience. Some sponsors make financial contributions. Others provide the emotional support while organizations or businesses make the financial investment in their place. Payments are made to Generation Hope, then distributed to the scholars’ schools. To be a Generation Hope scholar, applicants must live in Washington D.C., Maryland, JENNY CHACON IS A 2011 or Virginia, be actively parent- GENERATION HOPE SCHOLAR. ing their child, have a minimum grade point average of 2.5, and complete mandatory mentee training sessions. According to a 2006 report by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, fewer than 2 percent of teens who have a baby before age 18 attain a college degree by age 30. Lewis is working to change the tide. “The vast majority of teen parents are not getting college degrees and are very likely to be struggling financially,” says Lewis, CEO of the organization. “The driving force behind my desire to start an organization was to help other teen parents experience the transformation that I did as a result of a college degree.” When Lewis, a Virginia native, became pregnant with her daughter Nerissa during her senior year in high school, family, friends, and teachers told her that college was no longer an option. But Lewis refused to believe that her child would hinder her dreams of attaining a postsecondary education. “People see the failures of teen parents and the dismal statistics,” says Lewis. “But people need to know that you MCCA.COM

can overcome. I promised my mother and myself that I would finish college.” A tumultuous relationship with her former boyfriend and on-going arguments with her parents caused Lewis to leave her parents’ home to fend for herself amidst a tumultuous relationship with Nerissa’s father. Prior to her pregnancy, Lewis had been accepted to several colleges. When she opted to re-open her applications and finish the enrollment process, Lewis didn’t have an address to put on the application. “I was homeless. I had been moving from place to place, but I knew that I wanted to go to college,” Lewis says. “I turned in my applications and started classes at [Virginia’s College of] William and Mary when my daughter was three months old.” Lewis graduated in four years with a degree in English in 2003, but it wasn’t easy. She encountered several challenges as a single parent on campus with few familial resources. The single mom lived in a family housing apartment on campus. “There were many nights I was up studying for an exam, and my daughter was teething. Or I had to deal with her having a cold and not wanting to miss class,” she says. “Financially, I had to live off of loans and grants in order to pay for our rent, the food, her daycare, and my books. It was a very difficult time.” After college, Lewis landed a media relations job with auto-insurance provider Geico. “I realized how much a college degree had changed my life and changed my daughter’s life,” says Lewis. She went from having no food to conducting business with some of the most successful business people in the world. The impact that Generation Hope has made in the life of Chacon and others fuels Lewis to help more parents. But throwing money at teen parents doesn’t solve every problem, Lewis says. “If your tuition is paid, but you have to deal with a teething child and you’re at your wit’s end and you have to take an exam the next day, no money in the world is going to solve that issue for you,” Lewis says. “But if you have someone you can call MCCA.COM

[who tells you] ‘I believe in you. You can do this. Let’s figure this out together,’ that’s going to make a really big difference.” To foster strong menteeand-mentor relationships, Generation Hope has established a few simple rules. Students are required to check in with their mentors every other week. Mentors and mentees are also required to meet in person once every month. Generation Hope also hosts a number of events such as pumpkin picking for teen parents, their children, and their mentors to bond. Generation Hope hosts fundraisers throughout the year. The organization taps into several funding streams to help keep the teen parents in school and operational costs low. It received $50,000 from the Summit Fund of Washington, a group that provides financial support for organizations that bring about measurable improvement in the quality of life within the Washington community. “We’re not a fully funded organization, and we’re definitely pushing hard for funding,” Lewis says. Lewis is quick to note that she wasn’t the stereotypical teen mom. While arguments and disagreements happened frequently in her home, Lewis’ parents were married and education was stressed. Lewis wants people to abandon the stereotype of unmotivated, rebellious teens that is so frequently embraced by the larger society in relation to teen pregnancy. “We have scholars in our program who are aspiring teachers, doctors, and computer engineers,” says Lewis. “They are extremely dedicated and talented individuals.” Lewis adds, “We have scholars in our program working two and three jobs in addition to being a full-time mom and a full-time student.” Happily married for nearly five years and mother to another daughter, 2-year-old Naya, Lewis is proof that teen parents can fulfill their dreams. D&B Michelle Nealy is a freelance writer and videographer based in Chicago. JULY/AUGUST 2012

DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

DIVERSITY NEWS

BY JOSHUA H. SHIELDS

LAW SCHOOL APPLICATIONS ARE FALLING, SHOWCASING CHANGING ATTITUDES ABOUT THE PROFESSION CONVENTIONAL WISDOM SAYS THAT LAW SCHOOL IS A GOOD PLACE to ride out an eco-

nomic downturn. That may no longer be true. Law school applications have dropped 15.6 percent since last year. Over the past two years, the number of Law School Admission test takers has fallen nearly 25 percent—from 171,514 at its peak to 129,925 in the 2011-12 academic year. Th is year’s applicant pool will be the smallest since 1996, when there were 21 fewer law schools, and 16 percent less students. “I don’t think people are getting into a law school that they would not have before,” says Anne Levine, an admissions consultant. “[But there is so much more wait listing. We should see more people pulled off wait lists over the next month.” She expects the litmus test for new students to come when the first tuition payment is due. Students at the top—who have multiple options—could choose another path. Students at the bottom—who have slimmer chances of landing a job after graduation—could decide that the investment will not pay off. Declining admissions are, in a way, good for law schools because the less serious tend to opt out and provide spots for students who are committed to the profession. The decline reflects changing attitudes about the state of the legal market and the chances of getting a job after graduation. The prospect of being hundreds of thousands

of dollars in debt for a degree that may not yield a steady income is not something many students are willing to shoulder. Good grades at a decent school no longer guarantee a six-figure law firm job. The decline is a reaction to the legal market. About 45,000 students are expected to graduate from law school in each of the next three years. The overall employment rate for new law school graduates is 85.6 percent, the lowest it has been since 1994, when the rate stood at 84.7 percent. Prior to 2010, the employment pattern for new graduates was undisturbed for decades. Analyses of data by the Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP) shows, the employment rate has fallen more than six percentage points since reaching a 23-year high of 91.9 percent in 2007. Only three classes have had employment rates below 85.6 percent since 1985. All those classes graduated in the aftermath of the early 90s recession. The numbers showed other interesting trends. The number of lawyers in private practice, the most popular destination for new graduates for decades, fell below 50 percent for the first time since 1975. Forty-nine and a half percent of the jobs taken by the class of 2011 were in private practice. Between 1993 and 2009, the percentage of jobs taken in private practice had varied only between 55 percent and 58 percent.

ANALYSES OF DATA SHOW THE EMPLOYMENT RATE HAS FALLEN MORE THAN SIX PERCENTAGE POINTS, TO 84.7 PERCENT, SINCE REACHING A 23-YEAR HIGH OF 91.9 PERCENT IN 2007.

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EMPLOYER TYPES CLASS OF 2011—AS OF FEBRUARY 15, 2012 # of Jobs = 35,653 Academic 3% Private Practice 49.5%

The drop in private practice jobs represents a dramatic shift in the legal field. Private practice jobs, particularly at the largest firms, represent the ultimate professional achievement. As the numbers of jobs at large firms decline, graduates are taking jobs at smaller firms for less pay and are also opening up their own practices. Solo practitioners have increased from 3.3 percent of the class of 2008 to 6 percent for the class of 2011. Blogs such as AbovetheLaw.com have accused law schools of inflating employment statistics for recent graduates. Graduates of New York Law, Michigan’s Thomas M. Cooley Law and other second-tier schools are asking for refunds because they could not find the legal jobs they were supposedly promised. At the heart of the matter are statistics kept by law schools that advertise 90 percent employment for recent graduates. The law schools report employment rates that include any job—not just those in the legal field. Some schools even temporarily hire new graduates to inflate employment statistics. Out of the 143 law schools in the 2012 U.S. News and World Report rankings, 59 report more than 90 percent employment for new graduates. The schools have an incentive to report high employment numbers because employment rates account for a fifth of a school’s rank. The law school jobs programs make up an estimated 5 percent of all jobs for the class of 2011, again according to NALP’s analysis. Without law school jobs programs, the overall employment rate would be about 81 percent, far lower than the historic lows of the early 90s recession. The programs are hard to judge because some are legitimate paths to practicing law while others are temporary and unrelated to the legal field. D&B MCCA.COM

Business 18.1%

Public Interest 7.5% Judicial Clerk 9.3%

Military 1.1% Other Govt 10.8%

NOTE: Figures in this chart reflect all job types—both legal and other. For clarity, the category for unknown employer type, representing 0.7% of jobs, is not shown.

EMPLOYMENT STATUS CLASS OF 2011—AS OF FEBRUARY 15, 2012 # of Graduates = 41,623 Not Seeking Job 2.5%

Private Practice 49.5%

Seeking Job 9.5% Continuing Studies FT 2.3% Other Nonprofessional Job 1.9% Other Professional Job 5.3% JD Advantage Job 12.6%

NOTE: The category of jobs for which type, e.g., bar passage required, or other was not specified accounts for .5% of jobs but is not shown on the chart. Overall, 88% of jobs were reported as full-time. Charts: Copyright 2012 by the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) and reproduced with permission. JULY/AUGUST 2012

DIVERSITY & THE BAR®

MOVERS & SHAKERS

JOSEPH M. DRAYTON

ERNEST TUCKETT

ANAND SAHA

VALERIE T. MATHERNE

Joseph Drayton is a partner in the Cooley litigation department and a member of the intellectual property litigation practice group. Prior to his position at Cooley, Drayton was president of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association of New York City. For the last 14 years Drayton was Counsel for Kaye Scholer LLP in New York City. His general litigation practice involved intellectual property, antitrust, and complex commercial issues. He was a member of Kaye Scholer’s diversity committee, recruiting committee, and had an active role in the firm’s partnership with the Bronx School of Law, Government and Justice. He earned his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and his B.S. from the University of Maryland.

Ernest Tuckett is general counsel of DuPont Canada. He is a member of DuPont Canada’s corporate leadership team and the chief legal counsel to the company. Previously, Tuckett served as a commercial lawyer supporting the multibillion dollar crop protection business platform for DuPont. He was responsible for advising and counseling senior business executives on a variety of commercial and general business issues around the world. Prior to that role, he was a labor and employment lawyer for DuPont. Before joining DuPont, he worked for Arent Fox’s Washington, D.C. office in the litigation and employment practices. Tuckett graduated from Georgetown University and received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Anand Saha is now a partner at Clifford Chance’s São Paulo capital markets practice. He is an integral member of Clifford Chance’s Latin American corporate practice. He has advised on a long list of complex, high-visibility transactions in recent years, including TAM Airlines on its merger with LAN Airlines – a deal that will create the second largest airline in the world by market cap. Saha also advised several global investment banks on numerous high-yield, investment-grade, and liability-management transactions involving Latin American companies. He received his law degree from The London School of Economics and is admitted to practice in both New York and England & Wales.

Valerie T. Matherne is now a partner at New Orleansbased Courington, Kiefer & Sommers, LLC She concentrates her practice in civil defense litigation, including automobile, product liability, environmental, toxic tort, bad faith, premises liability, construction, and employment law. She also serves on the board of directors of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. She is a member of the Louisiana and Mississippi bar associations. She earned her undergraduate degree from Florida State University and her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law, where she was the secretary of the student bar association and vice president and a founding member of the Loyola chapter of the Asian American Law Students Association.

Partner Cooley LLP

COMPILED BY JOSHUA H. SHIELDS

General Counsel DuPont Canada

Partner Clifford Chance

Partner Courington, Kiefer & Sommers, LLC

Please send your submissions to our Movers & Shakers feature to joshshields@mcca.com Please include a high-resolution photo (300 dpi or greater), along with an electronic version of the applicable announcement.

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Thank You for your support of the 9 th Annual

General Counsel Invitational

Diversity Leadership Summit MCCA with the support of would like to thank our sponsors and guests for participating in the 9th Annual General Counsel Invitational Diversity Leadership Summit weekend April 19-21, 2012 at Doral Golf Resort & Spa. Sponsored by

April 18-20, 2013 | Doral Golf Resort & Spa | Miami, Florida

Contact: Jennifer Chen, Vice President External Relations| jenchen@mcca.com|(202) 739-5902

+72

he Scale MCCA WEIGHS IN ON THE NEWS

More Women Are Expected to Land CEO Roles More women candidates mean more women CEOs in the coming years. Although only 35 women head the top 1000 companies, according to Fortune magazine’s rankings, the CEO pipeline has more women than ever before. Maggie Wilderotter, CEO of Frontier Communications Corp., says she wouldn’t be surprised if women CEO numbers doubled in the next five years. McKinsey & Co. found that 24 percent of senior vice presidents at 59 large companies are now women. +2

Attitudes on Gay Athletes Are Changing, Says NFL Player 50

Houston Texans’ linebacker Connor Barwin voiced his support for gay players. Barwin, whose brother is openly gay, said “I think they would surprised how welcoming people would be. I think at the end of the day guys care about how you play football, because we’re all so competitive about winning that if there is a guy who comes out as gay in our locker room and he’s a good football player, people aren’t going to care about that. I think that’s the honest truth. I think guys care about what kind of person they are, what kind of teammate they are and how good they are at helping us win.” Barwin says that he has noticed a sharp decline in the use of gay slurs in and around football and change will come quicker than expected. +1

Women Severely Underrepresented in Entertainment Offices The division of labor in movies was 82 percent men and 18 percent women, according to a San Diego State University study looking at directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors, and cinematographers. The demographics are almost identical to statistics from 14 years ago when they were tilted 83 percent men to 17 percent women. Meryl Streep lamented the slow progress of the studios. Over the last five years five movies (Mamma Mia, The Devil Wears Prada, The Iron Lady, The Help, and Bridesmaids) aimed at women brought in over $1.6 billion in worldwide box office, she said. She starred in The Iron Lady, which cost $14 million to make and generated $114 million in ticket sales.

Help MCCA weigh the news!

Arizona State to Start a Law Grad ‘Residency’ Program Douglas Sylvester, dean of Arizona State’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, wants to create a law residency for new graduates that will help them learn the skills necessary to open their own firms after two years in the program. Expected to be operational by 2013, the program would hire up to 30 “resident lawyers” from its graduates. They will effectively work as “partners” with five or six experienced lawyers and handle public interest and small-client matters. The experience will allow them an opportunity to learn real-world law skills and how to operate a firm. The new lawyers would be paid salaries and receive benefits but could also be fired for poor performance. +2

Colleges Worry About Maintaining Diversity Just nine years after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of race as a factor in admissions decisions, the court will revisit the practice in an upcoming case. The 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision permitted race as a factor in a holistic admissions process. College officials review the entirety of an application. Without being able to weigh ethnicity, many officials fear that it would be impossible to maintain the same level of diversity.

Send diversity related news articles to joshshields@mcca.com.

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We believe that our philosophy and practice of inclusion—soliciting, valuing, and incorporating the myriad viewpoints of our lawyers—makes the firm more creative, stronger, and better able to address the evolving issues in the workplace. With more than 600 attorneys in 41 offices across the country, Ogletree Deakins is one of the nation’s largest labor and employment law firms, exclusively representing management.

Diversity in the Workforce is the Source of Innovative Ideas

FOR QUESTIONS ABOUT OGLETREE DEAKINS’ INCLUSION EFFORTS, PLEASE CONTACT: Michelle P. Wimes, Director of Professional Development and Inclusion michelle.wimes@ogletreedeakins.com ▪ Phone: (816) 471-1301 ▪ www.ogletreedeakins.com