The Missouri Bar has a longstanding commitment to diversity in the legal profession that dates back to the mid-1980s. In 1985, Missouri Bar President (and later Judge) Robert M. Clayton formed the Committee on Women and Minorities in the Profession and named yours truly as its first chair. During the intervening years, that committee has morphed into separate groups to better focus on the unique issues that face women and people of color in the law.
Today, the Bar has teamed with the Supreme Court of Missouri to form the Joint Commission on Women in the Profession. In addition, the Bar has a Committee on Diversity, formerly the Minority Issues Committee, which has expanded its original mission primarily focused on ethnicity to include current and future challenges to inclusiveness impacting those in the LGBT community and persons with disabilities.
Both groups are very ably addressing the historical problems – and poised for the challenges yet to come – that face a large segment of those who practice law and the citizens who use the justice system.
On May 20, at the very impressive Saint Louis University School of Law, The Missouri Bar convened a talented group of individuals to discuss the challenges that generally face our society and uniquely affect our profession. This one-day “Diversity Summit” included a series of hard-hitting conversations that raised awareness of the problems we continue to face and presented solutions we should all consider and implement.
The goals of the Summit included identifying and naming the obstacles that stand in the way of real progress, learning about the strategies being employed and the ideas that could or should be employed to overcome those obstacles, and engaging in a frank dialogue that hopefully left all in the room feeling empowered to work individually and collectively to bring about real and significant change.
The Summit faculty was diverse and included a law school dean, law professors, federal and state court judges, a past president of the State Bar of Texas, a representative from the American Bar Association (ABA) Women’s Commission, law firm representatives, corporate counsel and law firm diversity managers. ABA President-Elect Paulette Brown was the luncheon keynote speaker and reminded all that there is still much work to do on equality and inclusion.
The Summit was a collaboration of The Missouri Bar and all of the metropolitan and affinity bar associations in Missouri. Participants included Bar officers and executives from across the state, judges from all levels of the court system, corporate general counsels, hiring partners, practitioners from firms of all sizes, representatives from all Missouri law schools and many members from the Board of Governors of The Missouri Bar.
The Summit began with a candid discussion on the “implicit bias” we all have that is generated from societal influences and life experiences. Washington University School of Law Professor Kimberly Norwood gave an eye-opening presentation about how implicit bias impacts everyday decisions we make on the job, in the courtroom, in hiring decisions and work assignments.
At lunch, President-Elect Brown reflected on her years of law practice and service in the ABA. She recognized the progress made, but lamented the current state in the profession that has shown an actual statistical decline in the positive strides the profession made during the past 30 years.
After lunch, we had a stellar discussion panel that included Willie Epps, head of litigation at Edward Jones; Lisa Tatum, past president of the State Bar of Texas; Michelle Wimes, director of professional development and inclusion at Ogletree Deakins; Stephanie Scharf, founding partner of Scharf, Banks & Marmor in Chicago and past president of the National Association of Women Lawyers; and Michael Minton, partner at Thompson Coburn, LLP and chair of that firm’s diversity committee.
The panel was moderated by Ellen Suni, dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
The panel discussed the challenges of creating a culture that fosters diversity and inclusiveness in law firms and corporate settings. The group also offered strategies to attract and retain those lawyers and made the business case for doing so.
The judicial panel was moderated by Saint Louis University Law Professor John Ammann. Panel members included federal judges Carol Jackson of Eastern District of Missouri and Brian Wimes of the Western District. Judges George W. Draper III of the Supreme Court of Missouri, Angela Quigless of the Missouri Court of Appeals – Eastern District and Judge Sandra Farragut Hemphill of the 21st Judicial Circuit rounded out this power panel.
The judges delved into many issues they see in the courtroom, such as bias in jury selection, the lack of lawyers of color who appear in federal courts, the dearth of minority applicants for federal judicial clerkships, the accessibility of court houses and court rooms for persons with disabilities, as well as the overall need to ensure that the legal profession and the justice system reflect the diversity of the society it serves.
The Summit concluded with a social reception, and Saint Louis University Law School Dean Michael Wolff joined the participants for further discussion of the Summit topics in a more relaxed atmosphere.
This meeting exceeded all of my expectations and I want to thank those who participated but especially the Planning Committee, led by Missouri Bar Vice President Dana Tippin Cutler, Diversity Committee Chair Jessica Mendez, and Board of Governors member Amy Bender Levy. I am so proud of the Bar staff, led by Executive Director Sebrina Barrett and her team of Robert Stoeckl, Mary Douglas, Lesa Litty, Lucas Boling and Farrah Fite. They were the boots on the ground that helped create a plan for the event and flawlessly executed it.
Saint Louis University Law Professor Lisa Taylor will prepare a report that will serve as a roadmap for The Missouri Bar and others going forward on these important issues. We expect that report to be available at The Missouri Bar Annual Meeting in October.
Hopefully the Summit helped raise the bar of awareness on critical matters that still face us. But the energy, commitment and enthusiasm demonstrated by all the legal professionals in attendance are very encouraging and make me, once again, proud to be a Missouri lawyer.
Reuben Shelton, senior counsel-litigation at Monsanto, is 2014-15 Missouri Bar President.
Reprinted with permission from the May-June 2015 issue of the Journal of The Missouri Bar.
