The Minorities in the Profession Committee hosted its second biennial Diversity and Inclusion Symposium virtually on December 11, 2020. The symposium was created to give minority attorneys a space to share experiences and be energized with new ideas on how to thrive in legal environments. The symposium also seeks to create a new lens for all attorneys and legal professionals to better understand diversity and inclusion issues and offers tools and strategies attendees can take back to their respective law firm, corporation, or organization.

This year’s speakers were dynamic leaders working in the field of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. The discussions were incredibly thoughtful and provided attendees tools to move forward.

The symposium started off with Benjamin Wilson, chairman of Beveridge & Diamond in Washington, D.C., who highlighted the business case for diversion and inclusion. One key point made by Chairman Wilson was the importance of “trumpeting” your accomplishments. It is preferable to have a mentor, or leader, or colleague trumpet for you by highlighting your accomplishments publicly. However, if none of those options are available to you, he advised continuing to let your light shine until your hard work is noticed. Because of this need and desire to highlight the many accomplishments of attorneys of color, Chairman Wilson created the African American General Counsel Group, and Managing Partner Networks and Diverse Partners Network and newsletter.

The next speaker was diversity consultant Gracie Johnson-Lopez, who discussed the nuts and bolts of implementing a comprehensive diversity and inclusion strategy. Gracie stressed “moving beyond the statement.” She said that “when [diversity and inclusion] strategies are the result from a business enabler approach [as opposed to just doing it because it feels good], that’s when sustainability results.” We want long-lasting programs and not something to merely appease current conversations.

Our morning ended with an important discussion on mental health led by Eb Roberts, an attorney and therapist. The legal profession is well known for the prevalence of attorneys facing mental health issues like anxiety, depression and substance abuse. Eb discussed how attorneys of color often face the exacerbating effects of microaggressions, lack of inclusion and system racism on their mental health, and offered actional strategies to manage those effects.

The afternoon portion offered breakout groups to discuss:

Resiliency: Overcoming Challenges in Today’s Legal Environment;
Practical Tips for Being an Ally: Moving from Feeling to Action;
Leveraging Your Seat: Maximizing Access and Cultivating Success; and
A Deeper Dive into Building a D&I Program: Ideas for Attracting & Retaining Diverse Talent.

Symposium Co-Chairs, Niya Fonville and Tawanda Artis, closed the program with a Call to Action for attendees to take the ideas from the day and bring them to their personal and professional lives.

Attendees were asked to share one word that would be a guiding principle for diversity, equity and inclusion going forward. The words shared were dynamic and impactful and were used to create a group word art on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Guiding Principles.

One attendee shared, “Well done and insightful program! I have many takeaways to implement with my colleagues. Many thanks to our leadership team and all panelists.”

The Minorities in the Profession Committee would like to thank all presenters and panelists for their involvement as well as Holly Morris, section liaison and the North Carolina Bar Foundation for its endowment grant.

For more information about the program, including speaker and panelist bios, visit the agenda here.

January 4, 2021/by NCBA MIP