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Bar committee works to diversify bench and bar
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: February 26, 2016
Martin H. Belsky, former dean of The University of Akron School of Law, said he believes attorneys and judges should reflect the community they serve.
As chair of the Akron Bar Association’s diversity committee, the Randolph Baxter professor of law spends his time working to make a diverse bar a reality in Summit County.
“By 2025 the majority of the people in this state will be minorities and my position is that we need to start encouraging a diverse group of high school students and others in the community to consider legal careers,” said Belsky.
A native of Philadelphia, Belsky began his career as a prosecutor and later chief prosecutor in that city. He’s also served as counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, chief counsel to a special House committee, assistant administrator of a federal agency, head of a university policy center and held two previous deanships prior to coming to Akron.
He joined the Akron Bar Association and the diversity committee in 2008, the same year he moved to Akron to be dean and a law professor at The University of Akron School of Law.
“I have always been interested in diversity,” he said. “I was co-chair of The University of Akron’s Diversity Council until 2016 and have held officer positions in diversity and inclusion organizations for more than thirty years.”
Since taking the reins as chair of the bar’s diversity committee in 2013 he has worked closely with educators at Akron Law and fellow committee member Akron-Canton Barristers Association President Edward L. Gilbert to promote the Law and Leadership Institute and to provide employment opportunities for minority students.
Law and Leadership is a statewide initiative created to prepare high school students, primarily from urban school districts, for college. The four-year academic program starts in the summer and continues throughout the year and teaches law, leadership, analytical thinking, problem solving and other skills.
“As a member of the diversity committee, it is my job to make sure that the legal community is aware of the fact that there are diversity issues,” said Gilbert, a sole practitioner in Akron who focuses on employment litigation.
“At the Law and Leadership Institute we work with students during the summer and into the academic year to introduce them to the idea of a career in law,” said Gilbert. “Many of these kids normally would not know what a lawyer does never mind considering the idea of going into the profession.
“The program lays out what the law is all about,” said Gilbert. “We try to follow these kids as they continue their education. Even if they do not become lawyers, we want them to be leaders.”
Gilbert said the diversity committee often holds events in which members of the African-American bar group Barristers meet with students of color attending The University of Akron, both as undergraduates and law school enrollees.
“We also try and interact with other minority bar associations such as the Hispanic and Asian bars as well as gay and lesbian attorneys,” said Gilbert. “We want to be all inclusive.”
The diversity committee hosts the annual Minority Law Student reception as well as other events.
Belsky said the diversity committee also runs a program in which law students of color are placed in summer internships with firms and government agencies.
“Committee members also go to The University of Akron and other universities in the area and speak with undergraduates to promote the idea of going to law school,” said Belsky. “While we speak to all of the students, we generally invite diverse student organizations to visit us at the bar association.”
Belsky said members work with people of color, women, those with disabilities and other diverse Akron Law graduates to find employment.
According to Julie Forgach, director of development of the Akron Bar Foundation, the diversity committee began in the ‘80s and currently boasts about 30 members.
The committee generally holds its meeting on the third Tuesday of the month at noon at the Akron Bar Association, with the exception of July, August and December.
“The meetings themselves do not include continuing legal education seminars,” said Belsky. “We try and limit the time to one hour and people who can’t show up in person can call in. We usually talk about things like the Law and Leadership Institute or a timely topic such as how the loss of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will impact affirmative action.
“Participation varies but we generally always have a core group of between five and eight people at each meeting.”
Belsky said the committee does offer one CLE a year, which is co-sponsored by Barristers. Gilbert said this year’s event takes place on June 16 and is entitled “Jury Selection and the Social Media Era.”
Each year the committee presents an annual diversity award during the Law Week luncheon, which is given to a business or organization that demonstrates a commitment to a diverse and inclusive workforce.
Those who are part of the committee are preparing a series of survey questions on the topic of diversity to be distributed to all bar members, said Belsky. “We will ask things like what does your firm look like? Who do you work with? How can we improve diversity in the Akron Bar? We are hoping to get suggestions as to how diversity can be increased.”
While the committee has been around for a long time, Gilbert said 15 to 20 years ago “it was pretty inactive. Today it is thriving under the leadership of the current executive director.”
When sole practitioner Rhonda Gail Davis chaired the committee from 2006 to 2008, she said there were certain key annual events, including a reception for students of color who attended The University of Akron School of Law and support for the university’s Multicultural Center.
“We did have monthly meetings but there was not as much going on as there is today,” said Davis, who represents plaintiffs in personal injury, malpractice matters and probate matters. “It has evolved nicely.”
Davis, who grew up in Bono, Arkansas, said she became a strong advocate for diversity during her years at The University of Mississippi School of Law.
“At that time it was under a federal mandate to integrate,” said Davis. “We may have had five or six African-Americans. This was quite a contrast to my undergraduate school, the Arkansas State University, where my debate and speech team was very diverse.
“During law school I spent a year in Sydney, Australia at Macquarie Law School, which had a very diverse study body. I had always been raised to treat people equally and I found the lack of diversity in Mississippi very hard to deal with, especially after I got back from Australia.”
Davis, who is licensed in Arkansas and Tennessee, moved to Akron in 1994 after she left the antitrust division of the attorney general’s office in Tennessee.
Although she has been a member of the Akron Bar since 94, she did not join the diversity committee until the late ‘90s.
“Because I was a new attorney I joined the new lawyers committee,” said Davis.
“I did a lot of volunteer work in the community that was focused on assisting female attorneys and promoting diversity,” said Davis, a former president of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers (now Ohio Association for Justice).
Gilbert said the number of diverse attorneys in Summit County has increased since he first started practicing in 1980.
“In 1980, there were about 12 African American lawyers in Summit County,” said Gilbert. “Now there are maybe 93. While diversity among attorneys has increased, there are still major challenges on the bench.”