Page 114 - MASTER COPY LEADERS BOOK 9editedJKK (24)_Neat
P. 114
Leaders in Legal Business
It is interesting to note that the ABA’s biggest annual lobbying event, ABA Day, which is held every
spring in Washington, D.C., was founded more than three decades ago to protect the Legal Services Corporation,
the single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans in the nation, and to save it from being
abolished.
Today, the ABA Division for Legal Services provides staff support for 10 ABA committees and
commissions that promote access to justice for all and improvements in the delivery of legal services. These
committees and commissions cover access to justice for the poor and moderate-income people, and issues
affecting the legal profession.14
Goal III: Eliminate Bias and Enhance Diversity.
Early gender statistics for lawyers are hard to come by, but we know that women’s participation in the
legal profession has grown dramatically since Mary B. Grossman of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mary Florence Lathrop
of Denver, Colorado, joined as the ABA’s first two women members in 1918. Women represented 3 percent of
the legal population in 1951, and today female attorneys account for 34 percent of the profession and 33 percent
of Association membership. Women make up nearly 48 percent of recent law school graduates.15 In 1943, the
ABA, which had previously restricted membership to whites only, finally passed a resolution that membership
was not dependent on “race, creed or color.”16 Following this resolution, the first African-American lawyer was
admitted to membership in 1950.17
Today, the Association is wholeheartedly committed to ensuring diversity and inclusion throughout the
ABA. The effectiveness of all the ABA’s pursuits is weakened as long as the justice system does not adequately
reflect the population it serves. The ABA has aggressively pursued strategies to diversify both the Association
and the legal profession as a whole; these efforts should be at the forefront of every bar association’s agenda and
is certainly at the forefront of everything the ABA does. Throughout its history, the Association has recognized
that it has a duty to properly represent the legal profession and the interests of justice.
Goal III was adopted by the ABA House of Delegates in 2008, drawn from what was previously known
as ABA's Goal IX, which was “[t]o promote full and equal participation in the legal profession by minorities,
women, persons with disabilities, and persons of differing sexual orientations and gender identities.”18
The ABA has several Goal III entities:
Commission on Disability Rights — promotes the ABA's commitment to justice and full, equal
participation in the legal profession for people with mental, physical, and sensory disabilities.19
Task Force on Gender Equity — addresses the continuing gender equity issues that exist in the legal
profession and in society at large.20
14 See AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, DIVISION FOR LEGAL SERVICES, ABOUT US, http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_services/about_us.html (last
visited February 5, 2015).
15 See Goal III Report, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, COMMISSION ON WOMEN IN THE PROFESSION, 5 (2014),
http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/women/2014_goal3_women.authcheckdam.pdf.
16 Supra note 2.
17 William G. Paul, Increasing Diversity, ABA JOURNAL, available at
http://books.google.com/books?id=9mGqYXbh8WIC&pg=PA8&dq=aba+journal+admitted+black+lawyer+1950&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WguvT4vhENPdgQf
v2qHHCQ&ved=0CF4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=aba%20journal%20admitted%20black%20lawyer%201950&f=false.
18 Supra note 15, at 4.
19 See AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, COMMISSION ON DISABILITY RIGHTS, http://www.americanbar.org/groups/disabilityrights.html (last visited February
5, 2015).
20 See AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, GENDER EQUALITY TASK FORCE, http://www.americanbar.org/groups/women/gender_equity_task_force.html (last
visited February 5, 2015).
107
It is interesting to note that the ABA’s biggest annual lobbying event, ABA Day, which is held every
spring in Washington, D.C., was founded more than three decades ago to protect the Legal Services Corporation,
the single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans in the nation, and to save it from being
abolished.
Today, the ABA Division for Legal Services provides staff support for 10 ABA committees and
commissions that promote access to justice for all and improvements in the delivery of legal services. These
committees and commissions cover access to justice for the poor and moderate-income people, and issues
affecting the legal profession.14
Goal III: Eliminate Bias and Enhance Diversity.
Early gender statistics for lawyers are hard to come by, but we know that women’s participation in the
legal profession has grown dramatically since Mary B. Grossman of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mary Florence Lathrop
of Denver, Colorado, joined as the ABA’s first two women members in 1918. Women represented 3 percent of
the legal population in 1951, and today female attorneys account for 34 percent of the profession and 33 percent
of Association membership. Women make up nearly 48 percent of recent law school graduates.15 In 1943, the
ABA, which had previously restricted membership to whites only, finally passed a resolution that membership
was not dependent on “race, creed or color.”16 Following this resolution, the first African-American lawyer was
admitted to membership in 1950.17
Today, the Association is wholeheartedly committed to ensuring diversity and inclusion throughout the
ABA. The effectiveness of all the ABA’s pursuits is weakened as long as the justice system does not adequately
reflect the population it serves. The ABA has aggressively pursued strategies to diversify both the Association
and the legal profession as a whole; these efforts should be at the forefront of every bar association’s agenda and
is certainly at the forefront of everything the ABA does. Throughout its history, the Association has recognized
that it has a duty to properly represent the legal profession and the interests of justice.
Goal III was adopted by the ABA House of Delegates in 2008, drawn from what was previously known
as ABA's Goal IX, which was “[t]o promote full and equal participation in the legal profession by minorities,
women, persons with disabilities, and persons of differing sexual orientations and gender identities.”18
The ABA has several Goal III entities:
Commission on Disability Rights — promotes the ABA's commitment to justice and full, equal
participation in the legal profession for people with mental, physical, and sensory disabilities.19
Task Force on Gender Equity — addresses the continuing gender equity issues that exist in the legal
profession and in society at large.20
14 See AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, DIVISION FOR LEGAL SERVICES, ABOUT US, http://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_services/about_us.html (last
visited February 5, 2015).
15 See Goal III Report, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, COMMISSION ON WOMEN IN THE PROFESSION, 5 (2014),
http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/women/2014_goal3_women.authcheckdam.pdf.
16 Supra note 2.
17 William G. Paul, Increasing Diversity, ABA JOURNAL, available at
http://books.google.com/books?id=9mGqYXbh8WIC&pg=PA8&dq=aba+journal+admitted+black+lawyer+1950&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WguvT4vhENPdgQf
v2qHHCQ&ved=0CF4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=aba%20journal%20admitted%20black%20lawyer%201950&f=false.
18 Supra note 15, at 4.
19 See AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, COMMISSION ON DISABILITY RIGHTS, http://www.americanbar.org/groups/disabilityrights.html (last visited February
5, 2015).
20 See AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, GENDER EQUALITY TASK FORCE, http://www.americanbar.org/groups/women/gender_equity_task_force.html (last
visited February 5, 2015).
107
