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Diversity

‘On Being a Black Lawyer’  Blogger Reaches Out to Minorities

Posted Nov 25, 2008 11:53 AM CST
By Rachel M. Zahorsky

Yolanda Young, the former Covington & Burling staff attorney who chronicled her experience there in the Huffington Post piece, “Law Firm Segregation Reminiscent of Jim Crow,” offers a new forum for minority lawyers on her blog, On Being a Black Lawyer.

Young, who grew up impoverished in the Deep South and earned her law degree at Georgetown University Law Center, says in an ABA Journal interview that she felt compelled to author the blog after her newspaper story received harsh criticism from commenters on the Wall Street Journal Law Blog and Above the Law, as well as substantial praise from other minority attorneys.

It was the latter that Young says caused her to realize “there was a real need for a place where African-American attorneys and law students could gather to network, disseminate information and poke fun.”

The National Association of Black Journalists encouraged Young’s effort to create her blog, and On Being a Black Lawyer has had more than 500 unique visitors since its Nov. 4 launch, chosen for the day Barack Obama was elected President.

Looking ahead, Young is “definitely optimistic” that someday law firms will eschew the discrimination that fostered her formal complaint against Covington with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She cites Roderick A. Palmore as inspiration. Palmore, executive general counsel and secretary of Sara Lee, initiated the "Call to Action,” a formal promise signed by hundreds of general counsel to retain law firms that demonstrate a level of diversity.

“The Call to Action is the most promising thing in the future viability of black lawyers in firms,” Young says. “It is going to take a financial incentive for these firms to change. If clients start to say, ‘we want to see a more diverse group of professionals handling our cases,’” law firms will have to promote more qualified minority lawyers to associate and partner positions.

Young is focused on writing her second book, also titled On Being a Black Lawyer, which documents the legal industry experiences of all 70 African-American graduates from her Georgetown class.

Comments

1.

huh
Nov 25, 2008 12:37 PM CST

What’s a black lawyer?  I though there were lawyers who passed the bar and those that didn’t.

Is that a new practice area?  Black Law????

Can the ABA post an article on being a White Laywer, a Brown Laywer, a Mexican Laywer, a Chinese Lawyer?

Who cares if she is black, white, etc?

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2.

HVB
Nov 25, 2008 2:53 PM CST

Re: Clients requiring diverse staffing: It is illegal to refuse to do business with (contract) another due solely to his race. A company that imposes such limitations is breaking the law.  A law firm should never advise a client to break the law; why should a law firm acquiesce to an illegal condtion of employment?

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3.

J.D.
Nov 25, 2008 4:39 PM CST

Why did I correctly assume there would be derogatory comments posted already?

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4.

Mike
Nov 25, 2008 5:30 PM CST

With so much constant and unhealthy fixation on the color of her own skin (and the resulting burden of all that victimhood), how is it possible for this girl to effectively practice law?

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5.

Mike
Nov 25, 2008 5:33 PM CST

JD:  You’re contending post #1 is “derogatory”??  You need (1) a dictionary and (2) perspective.

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6.

J.C.
Nov 25, 2008 5:48 PM CST

I agree with HUH - in law school there was the black students law society, the women’s law society, etc. which I felt were totally discriminatory and offensive.  There would be hell to pay if there were a men’s law society, white student’s law society and as a white female I would be offended by them also.  What ever happened to assigning titles to the types of law such as Constitutional, Corporate, Criminal, Civil etc where the only requirement is that you are interested in the topic and nothing else matters.

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7.

B. McLeod
Nov 25, 2008 6:45 PM CST

@ 2 - For money.  Next question?

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8.

Jared Hautamaki
Nov 25, 2008 7:07 PM CST

As a Native American attorney who works on issues of diversity within the ABA I fully support her efforts.  I was a member of NALSA as well as the ABA-LSD.  And the numbers are well documented that show the discriminatory hiring practices of BIglaw.  Your efforts to belittle her for her efforts to uplift other minority attorneys show either you lack an understanding of the difficulties minority attorneys and law students face, or you simply don’t care because you believe that efforts to create an equal playing field have somehow victimized you, which is simply delusional.

Equality is not something that simply exists, it takes constant effort on the part of every citizen, but more importantly, every attorney.

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9.

B. McLeod
Nov 26, 2008 1:02 AM CST

“Diversity” and “equality.”  Have these become the same?  Nature ensures one, but rarely produces the other.  While it is important to respect and fairly treat persons of diverse backgrounds, it is also important not to be drawn into the trap of trying to defeat racism by more racism.  Stacking more boulders on a cart can never make it lighter.

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10.

Car
Nov 26, 2008 12:34 PM CST

Very well written, #8.

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11.

Anonymous
Nov 26, 2008 3:52 PM CST

Excellent post Jared

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12.

Dr. Johnson
Nov 28, 2008 5:42 PM CST

Jared summed it up best!  Either you lack understanding of the difficulties minority attorneys face or you simply could care less because you believe you are somehow victimized.  The numbers do not lie!

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