Law Schools, Firms, Agencies Sign Diversity Pledge

The Salt Lake Tribune
Friday, November 21, 2003

Courting Color: The Utah Minority Bar Association persuades them to promise to recruit minorities, to give them equal opportunity and to offer partnerships

By Elizabeth Neff
The Salt Lake Tribune

Sean Reyes remembers how his classmates at Berkeley’s law school reacted when he told them he was going to Utah to practice in a big firm where he would be the only minority.

“I had lots of friends who were aghast.” He said. “They thought it was an odd choice.”

But Reyes, whose heritage is Japanese, Filipino, Hispanic and native Hawaiian, saw things differently.

“For me, on a personal level, it was a great opportunity in Utah is a wonderful place to work as a lawyer,” said Reyes, 32. “The bar is small, people are still civil. I realized I would be an extreme minority, but I had the opportunity to make inroads here. You have to have a critical mass at some point, and that’s got to start somewhere.”

Six years after Reyes began practicing commercial law here, almost 4 percent of Utah’s bar of 7,823 members identified themselves as minorities in a state where census figures show at least 16 percent of the population are minorities. Young minority attorneys such as Reyes, who sits on his firm’s hiring committee, say they are now concentrating on recruiting and mentoring the next generation.

For the first time, the Utah Minority Bar Association has gathered a group of firms, law schools and government agencies to publicly sign a racial and ethnic diversity pledge. Among their promises: to recruit more applicants of color, to give them equal access to training and career growth opportunities, and to invite qualified attorneys of color to become partners.

The pledge is one piece of a larger effort by the Utah Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System to encourage more minority recruitment in all areas of the justice system, from police officers to sitting judges.

Attorney Trystan Smith, 31, began working on the pledge during his tenure as former president of the Minority Bar in Utah. It is patterned after one first introduced in Colorado in 1993.

Smith, an African-American who grew up in Roy, said diversifying the legal profession—which calls for people to be judged by their peers—is especially important.

“The legal profession is one where everyone has an opportunity to be represented,” he said. “I’m glad that firms have been so receptive to it and I hope it opens up a dialogue. What we want to do is encourage young people of color.”

Current Minority Bar Association President Yvette Donosso Diaz, 31, called the pledge effort a “very progressive one for Utah. Where both the population and profession are predominantly white.

“Nationwide most bars have about 10 percent minorities, but Utah doesn’t, even though both of our law schools have about 15 percent minorities in their graduating classes,” Diaz said. “A lot of the attorneys tell us they just don’t perceive Utah as being a diversity-friendly place and don’t want to be the only or the first minority hired. For those people we want to send a message.

“Utah is a wonderful place to work as a lawyer . . . . I realized I would be an extreme minority, but I had the opportunity to make inroads here. You have to have a critical mass at some point, and that’s got to start somewhere.”

SEAN REYES
Minority lawyer in Utah

________

Tonight the group will present scholarships to minority law students and awards to those who have contributed to diversity in the legal community, including deans at both of Utah’s law schools. Reyes Aguilar, Jr., associates dean of admissions at the University of Utah’s law school, said the pledge is timely.

It’s just reflective of what is to come,” he said. “Utah is now in a stage in its history where it is starting to face the issue. Only 10 to 15 years ago the minority population was in the single digits, and it wasn’t something that had to be dealt with.”

Aguilar was raised in northern Mexico, attended school in Texas and worked as a school-teacher there before coming to Utah for law school. He envisioned returning home afterward.

“But I fell in love with this place,” Aguilar said. “One of the reasons I also stayed here and chose to go here was I knew I would stick out . . .there was opportunity in this place because of who I am.”

Participants in Utah’s first racial and ethnic diversity pledge for the legal profession:

• Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
• Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School
• Disability Law Center
• Fabian & Clendenin
• Holland & Hart
• Holme Roberts & Owen LLP
• Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough
• Manning Curtis Bradshaw & Bednar LLC
• Overson & Simms
• Parsons Behle & Latimer
• Ray Quinney & Nebeker
• Salt Lake City Prosecutor’s Office
• Salt Lake County Bar
• Salt Lake Legal Defenders
• Snell & Wilmer
• Snow, Christensen & Martineau
• Stoel Rives, LLP
• United States Attorney’s Office, District of Utah
• University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
• Utah Anti-Discrimination and Labor Division
• Utah Attorney General’s Office
• Utah Federal Defenders Office
• Utah Legal Services
• Utah State Bar

Utah Minority Bar Association
c/o Utah State Bar, Law & Justice Center
645 South 200 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84111-3834
mailto: umbalaw@utahbar.org