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The Young and New Lawyers Division was proud and happy to have District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis speak to our membership on the topic of “Enhancing Diversity in the Legal Profession.” The event was held at the Bar Center during the lunch hour on Wednesday, July 25, 2007. It was the second part of YNLD’s two-part Elimination of Bias Series.
Like Part I of the Elimination of Bias series presented on May 30, 2007, July’s event was co-sponsored by the San Diego County Bar Association’s Ethnic Relations and Diversity Committee, the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association, Filipino-American Lawyers of San Diego, La Raza Lawyers Association of San Diego, Lawyers Club of San Diego, Native American Lawyers Association, Pan Asian Lawyers of San Diego, South Asian Bar Association and Tom Homann Law Association. All of these organizations, along with YNLD, recognize the importance of exploring different ways to not only enhance diversity within the San Diego legal community, but also to encourage more diversity amongst the younger generations who may be considering law as a profession.
San Diego County Bar Association President Jill Burkhardt led things off by officially welcoming Miss Dumanis to the Bar Center. Ms. Burkhardt also commented on the importance increasing diversity has been not only to the County Bar, but to the State Bar as a whole. Ms. Burkhardt also introduced Marvin Mizell, Chair of the Bar’s Ethnic Relations and Diversity Committee (ERDC) to speak on the various opportunities available within the Bar’s many organizations to contribute to the important work of enhancing diversity.
Mr. Mizell gave a short description of the work the ERDC does and mentioned the many smaller bar organizations that comprise the ERDC. Mr. Mizell expressed his own passion for diversity issues, sharing with us the personal obstacles he had to overcome to become a member of the legal profession. He also stressed how vital it is to get the message out to the young people in the various ethnically diverse neighborhoods and communities around San Diego that pursuing law is a noble calling and one that is available to them.
Bonnie Dumanis followed Mr. Mizell’s comments by echoing how crucial diversity is to the strength and vitality of the legal profession. She presented a number of statistics relating to the ratio of ethnic populations in San Diego compared to the percentages of non-white attorneys in San Diego. Ms. Dumanis also shared statistics on the ethnic composition of judges in California. Having served on the bench, Ms. Dumanis has direct insight on the disconnect that exists between the ethnicity of the majority of judges and the racial diversity of the population the justice system is there to serve. Ms. Dumanis commented that one of the ways to help people of differing ethnic and cultural backgrounds feel like they are being listened to and understood is by increasing the diversity of the bench, as well as the bar. As Ms. Dumanis shared, there is nothing quite the same as standing before a judge or being represented by an attorney with whom you share the same cultural and ethnic background because of the common set of shared experiences.
Ms. Dumanis demonstrated the passion for diversity that she has brought to the District Attorney’s Office during her tenure. Although she admits there is still a long way to go, there has been a significant increase in the number of attorneys from diverse background--almost double from when she took office. She shared a video presentation that featured a number of deputy district attorneys from different ethnic backgrounds who gave insight into the challenges each of them faced in becoming a lawyer. Ms. Dumanis closed by offering suggestions as to how we all can do our part to help enhance diversity in our profession: start a diversity committee within our firms, participate in the various volunteer events the ERDC sponsors, as well as other common sense tips.
Overall, the event was enlightening as well as inspiring. The presentation was well attended and demonstrated YNLD’s commitment not only to important issues like diversity but also to presenting the YNLD membership with high quality events that increase the value of membership. I know all of those that attended definitely left the presentation with more knowledge and understanding than what they arrived with.
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