FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11/17/2016
Contact: Alexa Daniel
Legislative & Public Policy Manager
617-778-1922
Boston Bar Association Announces Support for ABA Resolution 113
The Boston Bar Association announced its strong
support for the American Bar Association’s Resolution 113, an initiative
designed to increase diversity in the legal profession. The Resolution urges all
legal services providers to expand and create opportunities at all levels of
responsibility for diverse attorneys, and urges clients to direct a greater
percentage of the legal services they purchase to diverse attorneys. A report on
the Resolution includes a model survey for providers of legal services to
complete, which would allow prospective clients to view current levels of
diversity among providers.
“On behalf of the Boston
Bar Association (BBA), we applaud the American Bar Association for advancing
Resolution 113,” said BBA President Carol Starkey of Conn Kavanaugh. “We are grateful to
the ABA for their leadership on this important issue. We hope that the
Resolution and the model survey will achieve their intended results, and we look
forward to learning of this initiative’s progress in the coming years. We
strongly believe that one of the most significant benefits of this initiative is that
it will facilitate an ongoing constructive dialogue between law firms
and corporations concerning diversity and inclusion within our profession.
We view this initiative as one that affirmatively supports change through
collaboration, and we are excited to be part of that discussion.”
The measure has been lauded by numerous businesses as well. To date, 55
chief legal officers of Fortune 1000 companies – several of whom are based in
the Boston area – signed on to a letter of support for the resolution and the
model survey, and are working to build further support for it in the legal
community.
Peggy L. Ho, Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff of
Legal and Government Relations for LPL Financial – and a BBA Council Member –
praised the show of support.
“I am proud to support ABA Resolution 113,
which urges all providers of legal services – including corporations and law
firms – to expand and create opportunities at all levels of responsibilities for
diverse attorneys,” she said. “At LPL, we are focused on doing our part to
support diversity and inclusion within our legal department and across our
firm. Resolution 113 encourages buyers of legal services to use a new
Model Diversity Survey to determine how well firms are doing on diversity in
their ranks. At LPL, we will be asking our top firms to fill out this survey on
an annual basis, and I am excited that these survey results will lead to
fruitful conversations to help promote diversity and inclusion in our
profession.”
Elsewhere in Boston’s legal community, Global 50 law firm
Goodwin has also announced its strong support for Resolution
113.
“Goodwin is dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion in our
profession,” said David M. Hashmall, Goodwin’s Chairman and leader of the firm’s
Inclusion Advisory Committee (IAC). “We believe that Resolution 113 will help
promote transparency and accountability, which are critical elements of any
successful diversity initiative, and we applaud the ABA’s efforts to standardize
a form of survey that clients can use to solicit diversity information from
their outside counsel.”
The Boston Bar Association traces its origins to meetings convened by John Adams, who provided pro bono representation to the British soldiers prosecuted for the Boston Massacre and went on to become the nation’s second president. Its mission is to advance the highest standards of excellence for the legal profession, facilitate access to justice, serve the community at large and promote diversity and inclusion.