The Business Law Section is committed to increasing participation of lawyers of color, young lawyers and lawyers with disabilities in Section activities. Despite outreach efforts, more still needs to be done to increase meaningful participation by lawyers of color, young lawyers and lawyers with disabilities in Section activities. Reasons for historically low participation include: (i) negative perceptions of the American Bar Association stemming from past exclusionary practices, and (ii) cost of attending Section meetings combined with perceived lack of opportunity to be an active participant in substantive work of the Section. The goal of the Program is to address these challenges by investing dollars in lawyers of color, young lawyers and lawyers with disabilities who are expected to participate actively in substantive work of the Section, to provide opportunities for pathways to leadership roles within the Section for these lawyers, and enhance the image of the Section among members of national bar organizations for lawyers of color and for lawyers with disabilities and the Young Lawyers Division in order to attract more lawyers of color, young lawyers and lawyers with disabilities into Section membership.
