Michael S. Greco
President, American Bar Association
ABA Law Student Division
Third Circuit Spring Meeting
University of Baltimore School of Law
February 24, 2006
I begin by thanking the Third Circuit of the American Bar Association’s Law
Student Division and Student Governor Helen Higginbotham for inviting me to say a few
words at the opening of your Spring Meeting. It is a great pleasure to be with all of you
this evening to discuss an issue of importance to the legal profession and the American
public.
In my view, no issue rises to a greater level of importance than the need to foster
a more diverse, inclusive, and representative legal profession in America.
Why is diversity in the law and our judicial system so important?
Most fundamentally, it is a matter of equal opportunity for all. The legal
profession generally has done a poor job of affording opportunities to women, people of
color, people with disabilities, and others who have historically been underrepresented
in positions of influence and power in our society. While we have made significant
progress over the past few generations, we still have a long way to go.
People of color make up only 10% of the entire attorney population in the United
States, versus more than 30% -- and growing – of the entire U.S. population.
We continue to struggle to maintain and improve the diversity of law school
student bodies. The percentage of total minority enrollment has remained stable at
about 21%, but the percentage of African American and Hispanic JD students has
actually declined somewhat.
The 2005 ABA Report, “Miles to Go: Progress of Minorities in the Legal
Profession,” found that representation of law students of color in 2003-04 saw “the
largest drop since the ABA began collecting minority data in 1976-77.”
For the third year in a row, admissions of African-American law students declined
in 2003. Admissions declined in actual numbers from 3,771 in 2001 to 3,628 in 2003 –
or a decrease of 143. Because total law school applications increased over that time,
admissions of African-American students, as a percentage of total admits, declined
significantly – from 7.3% of total admits in 2000 to 6.3% of total admits in 2003. This is
a very troubling and unacceptable trend, and one that we must work to reverse.
There are far too few judges of color on our state and federal benches.
The lack of diversity in the judiciary creates a perception among many Americans
of color that the system is stacked against them – that their perspectives are not
represented or appreciated in the judicial process.
While law school admissions for men and women have finally equalized, many
women lawyers continue to face obstacles.
The highest ranking positions in law offices, from managing and senior partners
to general counsel positions in corporations, continue to be overwhelmingly dominated
by men -- primarily white men.
These challenges are especially acute for women lawyers of color, who
experience a double bind of race and gender, unlike white women and men of color who
share gender or race in common with those typically in higher levels of management. In
fact, as highlighted in the 2005 ABA report, “Miles to Go: Progress of Minorities in the
Legal Profession,” more than 75 percent of women of color leave their firms within the
first five years.
The situation for people with disabilities interested in legal careers is no better.
Currently, there is no reliable estimate of the actual number of lawyers with disabilities,
but available data suggest that the number is insignificant compared to the 50 million or
more people with disabilities in America.
Diversity in the legal profession and the courts is also critical to maintaining and
enhancing public trust and confidence in our justice system and in the rule of law. As
we become a less homogenous society with each passing year, we must work to open
our basic institutions – public and private – to all. If we fail to do so, they will simply
cease to have credibility with a wide segment of the population.
The drive to increase diversity in the legal profession and the judiciary is not only
the right thing to do; it’s an absolute necessity in our increasingly small global
community. As we do more business with people in every corner of the world, our
profession must reflect the great strength that diversity provides to our nation if we are
to compete and work effectively on the global stage.
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More and more clients, individuals and corporations, are demanding that law
firms demonstrate a commitment to diversity – and those who do not will find
themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
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The American Bar Association and its leadership are strongly committed to
enhancing diversity in the legal profession. The ABA does not have the proudest
history in this area, having excluded African-Americans and other racial and ethnic
groups from membership for many years before catching up to other institutions in
society. But during the past decades, the ABA has made great strides, albeit many of
them too long in coming.
Our first two African-American Presidents of the ABA, Dennis Archer and Robert
Grey -- two outstanding leaders –immediately preceded me, helping to inspire all of us
to redouble our efforts to afford opportunities for all in the legal profession.
The most fundamental example of the ABA’s commitment is our strongly-held
position that race and ethnicity should be taken into consideration in law school
admissions. We firmly believe that the full participation of all racial and ethnic groups in
the legal profession is a compelling state interest. Full participation preserves the
legitimacy of our legal system, and safeguards the integrity of our democratic
government.
And the ABA is not alone in these beliefs. More than 100 other organizations,
corporations, and prominent leaders in government, the military, and academia filed
amicus briefs reflecting the ABA’s position in the 2003 Supreme Court decision in
Grutter v. Bollinger that upheld the practice of considering race as a factor in law school
admissions.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor agreed when she wrote in her opinion that,
“Effective participation by members of all racial and ethnic groups in the civic life of our
nation is essential if the dream of one nation, indivisible, is to be realized.”
The ABA has also embarked on an ambitious new collaborative effort to promote
diversity in legal education, beginning with an outstanding conference held in Houston
this past November to expand the pipeline of diverse students entering law school. This
groundbreaking conference brought together leaders from many different fields – from
the law to education to philanthropy to the business world – to work together to develop
concrete strategies to ensure that the law is a profession that is open to all, and that our
system of justice reflects our nation’s great diversity.
The diversity pipeline conference allowed lawyers to learn from the experiences
of other professions, including medicine, accounting and science, that have
successfully increased diversity among their ranks by reaching far back into the
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educational pipeline – as far as elementary school – to talk with young people of color
about the opportunities that each of their professions present.
One of the key follow-up actions arising from the pipeline conference is a
nationwide strategy for placing law students, lawyers and judges in classrooms to meet
and speak with young people about the law and legal careers.
I encourage all of you to become part of this effort.
The ABA also sponsors the Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund, which has
provided scholarships to more than 120 law students of color since the year 2000, and
the Minority Clerkship Program, which matches talented law students with judicial
clerkship opportunities nationwide.
To address the dramatic under-representation of people with disabilities in the
legal profession that I mentioned earlier, the ABA this May is sponsoring the first-ever
National Conference on the Employment of Lawyers with Disabilities in Washington,
DC.
Another example of the ABA’s work to promote diversity is the collaboration
between the ABA President’s Advisory Council on Diversity in the Profession and all
ABA Sections, Divisions, and other entities to develop outreach programs and monitor
progress in promoting diversity in ABA programming and activities.
The President’s Advisory Council on Diversity is working especially closely with
the Law Student Division to expand diversity outreach programs, and I encourage all
Circuit representatives and leaders in the Law Student Division to play a leadership role
in forming or expanding committees and outreach programs to enhance diversity in law
schools and in the profession.
Each President of the ABA also has an opportunity to promote greater diversity in
the ranks of ABA committees, task forces and commissions through the appointments
process. These appointments are critical to the work of the ABA, and provide a
springboard for future leaders of the Association and the legal profession – I am
pleased that more than one-third of all appointments I made last year went to lawyers
and judges of color.
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For far too long, diversity has been perceived by many as something that takes
away from some to give to others, as if opportunity exists only in finite quantities. In
reality, diversity benefits all. A commitment to diversity in the law brings us new
creative resources to solve the problems that will continue to confront all of us in the
future.
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It exposes each of us to a variety of perspectives and experiences and enables
us to communicate and work effectively with a wide range of people.
I was born in Italy and came to this country at the age of seven. I know first-hand
how meaningful it is when the eloquent promise of “equal opportunity for all” in America
is realized.
From personal experience, I know that America’s strength is derived from the
diversity and talents of all who live in the United States.
From personal experience, I know how important it is that all young people be
given the opportunity to learn, to work hard, to develop their abilities and then to
contribute them to society.
Each of us has an important role in fostering a more diverse and representative
legal profession. Law students and lawyers of all racial and ethnic backgrounds are
tremendously powerful role models and teachers for young people interested in
pursuing legal careers. I hope you will join with the American Bar Association in
pursuing this most important goal.
Without your commitment as students, and as future lawyers, judges, law school
professors and deans, and in other leadership positions, the legal profession will not
grow to serve the best interests of our clients and of our increasingly diverse society as
a whole.
Thank you for your hospitality and your kind attention, and best wishes for a
productive and enjoyable meeting.
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