What We Do
The State Bar’s mission includes the express goal of advancing inclusion and diversity in the legal profession. To reach its mission aims, the Board of Trustees has defined the ultimate goal as a statewide attorney population that reflects the richly diverse demographics of California. Recognizing that this is an ambitious objective that touches many areas of underrepresentation and inequality in society, the State Bar has focused its work on the agency’s key areas of influence: strengthening diversity in the pipeline into the profession and addressing disparities in retention and advancement. This effort includes the State Bar looking inward and consistently working to create and maintain a diverse and inclusive organizational culture.
Dr. Venetta Campbell volunteers for two State Bar committees to help others and promote the importance of DEI.
High marks for Diversity Report Card
Increasing DEI in California’s legal profession is one of the State Bar’s key responsibilities. In 2022, the State Bar issued its first digital Report Card on the Diversity of California’s Legal Profession, with new interactive data visualizations enabling users to research specific findings of their choosing. The report highlights trends in the diversity, workplace settings, leadership roles, and workplace satisfaction of California’s attorney population across multiple demographic groups and employment sectors. The report points out that while the legal profession is growing increasingly diverse with respect to race/ethnicity and gender, it still does not reflect the demographic diversity of the Golden State’s population.
Accompanying the report were new sector-specific calls to action: steps that attorneys, law firms, government agencies, nonprofit and other attorney-led organizations can take to increase diversity in their organizations.
DEI Leadership Seal Program
In an effort to proactively hold up California as a national leader in increasing DEI in the legal profession, the State Bar laid the foundation in 2022 for an innovative DEI Leadership Seal Program, which launched in early 2023. The DEI Leadership Seal recognizes legal employers that commit to and implement research-driven actions that further workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Participating organizations could include an entire organization—such as a nonprofit legal aid provider or a local law firm—or a smaller unit or department within an organization, such as the in-house legal department of a corporation. Organizations that commit to pursuing at least five of the 10 Action Items are recognized as participating employers.
State Bar: Proud to Walk the DEI Walk
For the State Bar leadership, it was important to not only promote a DEI Leadership Seal program, but also invest in the effort as a participating agency. Seeking to become a DEI Gold Seal recipient, the State Bar engaged an external team to review its Leadership Seal application. While the State Bar did not achieve seal status this first go-round, we are proud to join other striving organizations in “walking the walk” for greater DEI in California’s legal profession.