CHAIR’S MESSAGE

By Edward J. Sullivan

The term of a Section Chair is one year. The usual succession track ensures that a Chair is familiar with the work of the Section, as the Chair has had previous Council or Officer experience, as well as having served as Secretary, Vice-Chair, and Chair-Elect. The brevity of the term limits the ability of an incoming Chair to undertake new Section initiatives. I recognize this and, accordingly, have carefully chosen just three initiatives, in addition to the continuing work of the Section, involving meetings, publications, and inquiry into the law. This message, and the two following, addresses those initiatives.

The Council and Officers of the Section believe that we can do more to make the Section more diverse. The Section needs greater participation by racial and ethnic minorities and we must do a better job of making our case to them in our recruitment efforts. As most members know, the American Bar Association was a segregated entity until 1943. Although the ABA and our Section have made great strides, there is still much to do. Our Section has had a goal in place since 1990: “To ensure diversity in our membership, committees, CLE programs and Section Leadership.”

There are two parts to this initiative to recruit more minority members:

Under the leadership of Vice-Chair Adriane Dudley, the Section has taken a hard look at its approach to minority recruitment. Ms. Dudley has authored a report on diversity in the Section and presented it to the Council at its August meeting. That report was well received and will be combined with existing Section policies on diversity for adoption by the Council in October. We expect to have policies in place to work with minority bars and law student associations, to recruit minorities from both the public and private sectors, and to offer programs at which minorities will speak and be welcomed.

The Section also hopes to present a program aimed at minority member recruitment this coming winter in Miami. We expect to announce details of that program in the next issue of State & Local Law News, and to make that program a reality.

There is a moral imperative in these efforts. The bar should be at least as diverse as the people we serve, and we must make it so. While I have three initiatives for the coming year, this one is first and foremost.