Diversity
News
The YLD is now accepting applications for the 2008-09 Scholarship Program. Each year the ABA YLD awards a number of scholarships to encourage the participation of minority, solo/small firm, government, private sector, and military service attorneys in the Young Lawyers Division. Applications are due June 15, 2008.
Contribute to YLD Diversity Efforts: Share your story now and attend our April 19, 2008 Diversity Summit in DC (see below).
Diversity: The Next Generation Summit - April 19, 2008
As part of 2008 ABA YLD Spring Conference in Washington, DC, this Diversity Summit will provide a forum for attendees to exchange ideas on how young lawyers can ensure that the profession reflects the society that it serves and fosters an environment.
Visit the Diversity: The Next Generation Summit website for more information.
Developing a Model Diversity Plan
As part of the Young Bar Leaders Summit held at the 2007 ABA YLD Fall Conference, C. Erica White presented a session on Developing a Model Diversity Plan. The session included background on the YLD Plan and the process for developing a plan that is measurable and ensures accountability.
Welcome from the ABA YLD Diversity Director
The ABA Young Lawyers Division (ABA YLD) is the largest voluntary bar association division in the United States. It has a total membership of approximately 140,000, and is also recognized as an entity within the ABA that institutionally promotes and embraces diversity. The ABA YLD acknowledges and recognizes that its strength and success is due, in large part, to the diversity that its membership brings.
As the face of this Nation's legal community continues to change in the 21st Century and beyond, the ABA YLD continues to strengthen its commitment to Diversity. In 2000, the ABA YLD created a model Diversity Plan which provides mandatory and illustrative guidelines for the YLD. This Diversity Plan is not only a road map, but it is also a written commitment designed to assist and encourage the members and leaders of the ABA YLD to ensure full and equal participation for lawyers regardless of race, sex, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or sexual identity. In May 2007, our Diversity Plan was amended as part of a renewed effort to ensure that diversity is consistently being promoted and preserved throughout the profession and the Division.
The ABA YLD strives to surpass the guidelines articulated in our Diversity Plan. Our commitment to this goal is confirmed by the promotion of diversity among our Leadership and Committee Appointments, substantive CLE and Professional Development programming, and ABA YLD Awards, Grant and Scholarships. We invite you to explore our website to see the exciting initiatives and programs that we have planned for the 2007-2008 bar year.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (850)841-7630 or via e-mail at cewhitelaw@earthlink.net.
C. Erica White
2007-2008 ABA YLD Diversity Director
Choose Law: A Profession for All
The Young Lawyers Division has a strong history of inclusion. To help insure future inclusion and those individuals of color are 
represented in the legal profession the YLD developed a pipeline project designed for high school students of color: Choose Law: A Profession for All.
Choose Law encourages individuals of color to become attorneys through the use of a new video, a written guide, a website, attorney volunteers and educators. Through Choose Law, students learn about the importance of the legal profession and how the law affects all aspects of their lives. The project also teaches students that attorneys of color have played a crucial role in the development of this noble profession. Finally, Choose Law shares the wonderful and diverse opportunities available for individuals pursuing a legal career and lays the path for which to get started.
Choose Law is perfect for career day seminars, for guidance counselors, for social study classes, or for programs designed to educate students about the practice of law and to encourage them to consider becoming attorneys. Educators and counselors can use the video and written materials as a stand-alone project or as a supplement to similar local programs, such as programs where a local attorney or judge speaks to high school students about the practice of law. You can modify the project to suit your needs. Choose Law can be presented in fifteen minutes or an hour depending on what will work best. How you incorporate Choose Law into your curriculum or program is up to you.
Although Choose Law is primarily directed at students of color, its message about the importance of the legal profession, overcoming obstacles and pursuing an education is appropriate for everyone.
ABA YLD Diversity Team
The Diversity Team assists the ABA YLD in fulfilling its commitments to meeting the needs of all young lawyers. The Diversity Team consists of the following Committees, National Affiliate Representatives, and Liaison members:
ABA YLD Diversity Director
C. Erica White, Tallahassee, FL
ABA YLD Diversity Vice-Director
Effie V. Bean, Memphis, TN
Women in the Profession Chair
Candice Wooten, Winston-Salem, NC
Minorities in the Profession Chair
Keathan Frink, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Individual Rights and Responsibilities Chair
Tanisha Bailey-Roka, St. Croix, VI
Hispanic National Bar Association
Brianna Zamora, Albuquerque, NM
National Bar Association
Carlos Moore, Grenada, MS
National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA)
Eileen Sullivan, Phoenix, AZ
National Lesbian & Gay Legal Association (NLGLA)
Mario A. Sullivan, Chicago, IL
Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession Liaison
Heather Hodges, Washington, DC
Commission on Women in the Profession Liaison
Stacy Smith Walsh, Hartford, CT
Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law Liaison
Irlanda Ruiz-Aguirre, San Juan, PR
Scholarship Program
Each year the ABA YLD awards a number of scholarships to encourage the participation of minority, solo/small firm, government, private sector, and military service attorneys in the Young Lawyers Division. The deadline for 2008-09 scholarship applications is June 15, 2008.
Minorities in the Profession Committee
Tanisha Bailey-Roka, St. Croix, VI
Darrell Rico Doss, Bethesda, MD
Dana Douglas, New Orleans, LA
T. Nicole James, Minneapolis, MN
Dorothy Yee Leggett, Los Angeles, CA
Karthik Nadesan, Salt Lake City, UT
Djung Tran, Bensalem, PA
Latanishia Watters, Helena, AL
GP Solo Committee
Elizabeth A. Bleakley, Chicago, IL
Cassandra Georges, Philadelphia, PA
Kirby D. Hopkins, The Woodlands, TX
Government, Military and Public Sector Lawyers Committee
Ilissa Gould, Baltimore, MD
Jennifer R. Medley, New Orleans, LA
Timna Sites, Anchorage, AK
ABA Diversity Resources
Current Diversity Links
President's
Advisory Council on Diversity
Council on
Racial and Ethnic Justice
Commission on
Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession
Commission on Women
in the Profession
Commission on
Mental and Physical Disability Law
Diversity
Links
Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
