Recent News

May 8, 2009

Columbus Selected as ABA Hearing Site

Columbus is joined with Boston, San Francisco and Atlanta as regional locations for diversity fact-finding hearings conducted in preparation for the ABA 2009 Diversity Summit led by the association’s president, H. Thomas Wells Jr., in Washington DC, June 18-20.

According to the ABA website this initiative “seeks to expand its diversity efforts by reaching out to a variety of stakeholders within the legal profession to examine how the face of diversity has changed over the years and what direction diversity may take in the future.” Consideration will be given to broaden the focus from racial, ethnic and gender diversity to include disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues.

In partnership with the ABA, the Ohio State Bar Association hosted presentations from stakeholders representing legal academies, bar associations, public interest, government, judiciary, corporations and law firms. Representation from the Columbus Bar membership was strong with testimony presented by Nancy H. Rogers (Moritz College of Law) for the legal academy; Hope M. Sharett (John Mercer Langston Bar Association) for bar associations; Hon. Guy L. Reece II, Administrative Judge, Franklin County Common Pleas) for the judiciary; Carl D. Smallwood (Columbus Bar Managing Partners Diversity Initiative). Robert L. Solomon II, (Moritz) and Annette L. Hudson-Clay (Columbus Bar) served as interviewers for the Legal Academy and Bar Association panels.

Although attendance at the State of Diversity in the Legal Profession summit is by invitation only for leaders from all segments of the legal profession, recommendations will be forthcoming to address “what’s next.” Additional information is available on the ABA website: http://www.abanet.org/diversity/summit/home.html.