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As your president, I have been deeply honored and humbled for the privilege to share messages with you since July 1, 2020 in a year like no other for each of us and for Lawyers Club. Together we have lived through a global pandemic and also witnessed an increase in awareness of the inequities for women and people of color to heights not seen for decades. And we saw women continue to shatter glass ceilings when the first woman—a woman of color became Vice President of the United States.
Although the Stonewall Uprising that led to the gay rights movement occurred in 1969, it was not until 44 years later that the first Asian-American member of the LGBQ+ community was confirmed to be an Article III judge. Judge Pamela Chen, a woman, a lesbian, was appointed in 2013.
In 1999, a presidential proclamation declared June as Pride Month to recognize the struggles and achievements of the LGBTQ+ community in the fight for equality and inclusion. Using Pride Month to look closer at the history of the LGBTQ+ legal community, we learn that the late United States District Judge Deborah A. Batts was the first openly gay Article III federal judge in the nation.
In recent years we have heard “DEI”, “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion”, “allyship” “ally” etc., by a growing number of organizations including courts and law firms. And while we have seen this growing awareness, progress continues to be slow both for women and people of color, and at times just lip service.
Best practices geared towards standardizing processes are more likely to be in place in evaluating candidates at the hiring stage, but these need to be expanded and entrenched later in the career cycle, when considering attorneys for assignments and promotions.
As we celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage this month, let’s remember to celebrate our own AAPI members, who have paved the path by shattering glass ceilings.
“[W]omen are leaving law firms at what should be the height of their careers,” and “[T]he gender breakdown of summer associates and associates is almost equal, but then changes dramatically at the partner level.” These extraordinary statements in Ian Pisarcik’s “Women Outnumber Men in Law School Classrooms for The Third Year in a Row, but Statistics Don’t Tell the Full Story” invited me on a journey behind the fabled wizard’s curtain. What might be the micro-variables that are contributing to this now well-documented phenomenon?
The promise of this America, one where I can be myself, where my bravery is rewarded rather than punished, where Black men and women feel protected by the justice system and can pursue any dream they have, where women are allowed to be powerful and in control, moved me to tears.
This week San Diego celebrated a first that demonstrates how women continue to advance in our local community and society—the first female recruits began boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego (MCRD SD).
What are you?” A question I constantly have tried to find a correct answer to growing up. My appearance next to my Caucasian mother would often collect second glances from others in the grocery store, at restaurants, or even school events. Once, I had a doctor who apparently did not read my chart before coming in the room, who suggested a course of action he thought best for “Hispanic women.” I should clarify, I am a half-Caucasian and half-African American woman. This is why, on November 7, I ugly cried as Kamala Harris was confirmed as the first female to be elected vice-president—a woman of color elected to the second-highest office in the nation.
