CONTACT:  Ken Brown – 800-282-6556 or 614-487-4426

Columbus, Ohio (Monday, June 8, 2009) –  The Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) Board of Governors authorized the establishment of an Advisory Council on Diversity Initiatives.  This represents institutionalization of a renewed and reenergized commitment by the Association signaling nothing short of a permanent effort to guarantee equal access to justice through the legal profession.  

The primary charge of the Advisory Council on Diversity Initiatives is to enhance diversity in the legal profession.  The Council will coordinate, enhance, and implement OSBA’s diversity efforts to promote the full and equal participation in the legal profession by minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and persons of differing sexual orientations and gender identities.  The Council will work with the courts, the law schools and within the profession and in the outside community to achieve its stated goals.

“We will know the results of the effort to open the profession when we see those results all around us, and this is one step down that path,” stated OSBA President Gary J. Leppla, of Dayton. “By institutionalizing the effort, we believe the Advisory Council will help us to deliver on our commitment of increased diversity in the legal profession. The goal is to insure that those working within the system of justice are more reflective of society as a whole.”

 The activities of the Advisory Council will include:

• Advocating for the implementation of the Association’s Policy on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession;
• Advocating for the implementation of the recommendations of the Supreme Court’s  Racial Fairness Task Force and the Implementation Committee’s Action Plan;
• Serving as a clearinghouse of information for the legal profession on diversity; and
• Coordinating and working with the Association’s committees and sections and affiliates on matters of diversity.

The formation of this Advisory Council demonstrates the Association’s commitment to diversity in the legal profession.  The Advisory Council’s efforts will provide the means for the Association to be even more inclusive in the future, opening opportunities for involvement by a more diverse group of lawyers and paving the way for a more diverse population in the profession in years to come.

It is significant that a wide range of members have agreed to serve on the Council to accomplish its objectives.  These members include Ben Espy, chair (Columbus), Lee Belardo (Avon), Justice Maureen O’Connor (Columbus), Steven Hollon (Columbus), Timothy  Downing (Cleveland), the Honorable Jeffrey Froelich (Dayton), Stewart Cubbon (Toledo), E. Jane Taylor (Columbus), Janine Hancock Jones (Columbus), R. Lamont Kaiser (Delaware), Albert Lin (Columbus), Jocelyn Prewitt-Stanley (Columbus), Dean David Crago (Ada), Yvette McGee Brown (Columbus), Tawanda Edwards (Cincinnati), Denise Mathews (Columbus), Jeffrey A. Swillinger (Dayton), Mark S. Floyd (Cleveland) and Victor H. Perez (Tiffin).  

The OSBA’s Advisory Council on Diversity Initiatives is one in a series of commitments to diversity in the legal profession.  The OSBA adopted a Diversity Policy in 2002 aimed at improving diversity on the staff and in the membership.  The Association recently announced the expansion of the Law & Leadership Institute, a project designed to open the doors to legal careers for young people from disadvantaged communities.  The Advisory Council now provides an umbrella under which all of the Association’s diversity initiates can operate in a coordinated manner.

-30-