Minority lawyers reconsider Columbus

Program to increase diversity at law firms starts to show results

By Tim Doulin THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
June 9, 2003
Metro Section Front

When Hope McIntosh entered law school at Ohio State University four years ago, she wasn't thinking about working at one of Columbus' law firms some day.

"From speaking to people when I first arrived, a lot of minority students were looking for public sector work," said McIntosh, who is black. "There were very few who were working in private firms."

McIntosh, who was working on a master's degree in public policy while going to law school, changed her mind after she landed a clerkship at Bricker & Eckler.

"When I was able to work in a firm, I actually enjoyed it," she said.

McIntosh, who graduated from law school in May, is preparing to take the bar exam this summer and is expected to begin work as an associate at Bricker & Eckler in the fall.

The firm is one of 22 in Columbus involved in an initiative started two years ago to increase the racial diversity of their firms. The Columbus Bar Association, the John Mercer Langston Bar Association, which consists mostly of black lawyers, and the law schools at OSU and Capital University also are part of the initiative.

The organizers say it is showing signs of progress.

A total of 77 minority lawyers, out of more than 1,200, were employed last year at the participating firms, up from 46 in 2000, according to results of a bar association survey released last month.

Last year, 22 percent of the 140 lawyers hired by the firms were minorities, according to the bar.

The survey also showed the number of minorities elevated to partner status has increased to 25, up from 13, since 2000.

"It is encouraging to see the numbers moving in the right direction, but they still are not where we would like them to be," said Rich Simpson, managing partner at Bricker & Eckler and chairman of the initiative advisory board.

Three years ago, only 2 percent of the 1,237 lawyers in the participating firms were black, and fewer than 1 percent were another minority.

When asked why they were leaving Columbus after graduation, minority law students at the time cited their lack of interest in the city's legal community and firms' lack of interest in the minority students.

Aaron Granger, a lawyer at Schottenstein Zox & Dunn, said when he was in law school at OSU in the mid-1990s, the perception was that there were few opportunities for minority lawyers at major law firms in Columbus.

"I think the major reason was you just didn't see a lot of minority lawyers at those firms," said Granger, who is black.

Efforts have been made to reach out to more minority law students. One effective method, some say, has been the bar association's minority clerkship program.

The 15-year-old program offers clerkships at major law firms and is geared toward first-year law students, said Granger, former co-chairman of a committee involved in running the program.

"Early on in the program, we saw people come through the program and get jobs elsewhere," Granger said. "You are seeing now, with the diversity initiative, Columbus retain more of these attorneys."

It isn't just a matter of selling minorities on the legal community, but also on the city.

Columbus doesn't have some of the attractions that other major cities possess. However, Black Entertainment Television last year ranked Columbus the best city for black families. Like many "new" big cities, Columbus has a comparatively higher number of middle-class blacks than cities such as Baltimore and St. Louis, the BET study found.

Darrell Miller is comfortable here. Miller, a lawyer at Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease, is a graduate of Havard's law school who had opportunities to work in Chicago and London. Instead, he became a law clerk for a judge in Ohio and joined Vorys in September.

Miller, who is black and from Anderson, Ind., and his wife, from Guernsey County, like Columbus because it is close to their hometowns, has a relatively low cost of living and is an "up-and-coming city."

Vlad Belo, who is of Asian descent, grew up in California and has been working at Bricker & Eckler for eight months. He moved to central Ohio a few years ago because his wife is from the area.

"I have to be honest, I wouldn't be living here but for that," he said.

Necol Russell-Washington, a lawyer at Carlile Patchen & Murphy, said the most important thing when working at a firm is that "you feel like you are part of the team."

She is the only minority at the firm, but that isn't a problem.

"The people here make me feel welcome, so I really don't feel my being a minority is an issue,'' she said. "I know our firm is trying to attract more minorities."

Increasing diversity at firms is good business. Companies that many law firms represent have a greater diversity than the firms.

"If you look at a law firm as a business, your business has to diversify with all of your clients,'' said Laurel Beatty, an associate at Kegler Brown Hill & Ritter. "So I think it is necessary from both a moral and business perspective."