ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Judge Phyllis D. Thompson has been an Associate Judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals since 2006. She was the first African American woman partner in the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP. Thompson is a member of the NCBE Board of Trustees and chairs its Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is also a member of the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

1. The author acknowledges the input of the NCBE Diversity and Inclusion Committee in writing this article. The purpose of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee is to recommend policies and initiatives through which NCBE can enhance the participation and performance of historically disadvantaged groups with respect to legal education and bar admissions, including bar passage; to assist the Board of Trustees in remaining sensitive and responsive to diversity issues in the provision of programs and services; and to promote diversity of presenters and participants at NCBE educational programs and on NCBE’s committees, task forces, boards, and staff.

2. The Conference of Chief Justices includes representatives of the courts of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the nation’s territories (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands). See https://ccj.ncsc.org/ org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/23730/01282009-insupport-of-diversity-of-judicial-law-clerks-working-forstate-court-judges.pdf.

3. Conference of Chief Justices, Conference of State Court Administrators, Resolution 1, In Support of Racial Equity and Justice for All (2020), available at https://ccj.ncsc. org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0029/42869/07302020Racial-Equality-and-Justice-for-All.pdf.

4. Conference of Chief Justices, Resolution 13, In Support of Disability Diversity in the Legal Profession (2012), available at https://ccj.ncsc.org/__data/assets/pdf_ file/0015/23541/07252012-access-justice-disabilitydiversity-legal-profession.pdf.

5. Conference of Chief Justices, Resolution 6, In Support of Diversity of Judicial Law Clerks Working for State Court Judges (2009), available at https://ccj.ncsc.

6. Eli Wald, “A Primer on Diversity, Discrimination, and Equality in the Legal Profession or Who Is Responsible for Pursuing Diversity and Why,” 24 Geo. J. Legal Ethics (Fall 2011) 1079, 1103 (hereafter “Wald”).

7. American Bar Association, Presidential Diversity Initiative, Diversity in the Legal Profession: The Next Steps (Apr. 2010) at 9.

8. Conference of Chief Justices, Conference of State Court Administrators, Resolution 5, Reaffirming the Commitment to Meaningful Access to Justice for All (2015), available at https://ccj.ncsc.org/__data/ assets/pdf_file/0013/23602/07252015-reaffirmingcommitment-meaningful-access-to-justice-for-all.pdf.

9. Wald, supra note 6, at 1102.

10. Conference of Chief Justices, Resolution 6, Recommending Consideration of the Report of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being (2017) (stating that “supporting lawyer well-being … enhances lawyer ethics and professionalism”), available at https://ccj.ncsc.org/__data/assets/ pdf_file/0023/23684/08092017-recommendingconsideration-report-national-task-force-lawyer-wellbeing.pdf.

11. The Report of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being, The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change (2017), at 10, available at https://lawyerwellbeing.net/wp-content/ uploads/2017/11/Lawyer-Wellbeing-Report.pdf. (See also James C. Coyle, “The Report of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being and the Role of the Bar Admissions Community in the Lawyer Well-Being Movement,” 87(2) The Bar Examiner (Summer 2018) 8–16.)

12. Id. at 16.

13. Id. (recommending that “all stakeholders urgently prioritize diversity and inclusion”).

14. Professor Wald makes these points eloquently. He writes: “[T]o the extent that minority underrepresentation is caused by inequalities, past and structural discrimination, lack of diversity undermines the very meaning of law and of what it means to be a lawyer in the United States. … [A] definition of lawyers as professionals must inherently include a commitment to advancing equality under the law, and, therefore, to fighting under-representation and promoting diversity.” Wald, supra note 6, at 1101–02. Wald concludes that underrepresentation simply is “unacceptable in the legal profession.” Id. at 1142.