Central Ohio legal community committed to diversity and inclusion

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Columbus Bar Association’s Managing Partners Diversity Initiative (MPDI) recently hosted a seminar on Implicit Bias and the Legal Profession. Prof. Jerry Kang, an expert on implicit bias and the law, provided a scientific introduction to implicit biases. Kang was joined by Cheryl Staats, lead author of the Kirwan Institute’s State of the Science Implicit Bias Review. They shared how a creative and comprehensive approach to understanding inclusion in the workplace can help drive genuine change.

Implicit biases are attitudes and stereotypes that we are unaware of but still affect our behavior. These subtle biases can influence hiring, social interactions, and evaluations in organizations in ways that undermine productivity, teamwork, and a basic sense of fairness. Evidence-based strategies were presented and discussed to a standing room only crowd on how to counter these effects.

“Many organizations are well-intentioned, but may not be progressing towards meaningful change in the diversity and inclusion space,” said Kurt Tunnell, managing partner at Bricker & Eckler LLP and chair of the MPDI. “After a period of initial growth, these organizations lose momentum and their diversity and inclusion initiatives end up by the wayside. The Columbus Bar’s MPDI has been anchored to real work and real results in the legal industry for over 13 years and is still going strong.”

“The MPDI partnership consists of key organizations in the central Ohio legal community,” noted Jill Snitcher McQuain, Executive Director of the Columbus Bar Association. “This group is fiercely dedicated to real change in our industry and includes 22 law firms, two law schools, three minority bar associations and two government offices.”

Kang is a leading scholar on implicit bias and the law, having published more than a dozen articles on the subject in journals including the Harvard Law Review. He is widely sought after as speaker having addressed businesses and associations (ABA Board of Governors, American Bar Foundation, Association of General Counsels, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, NAPABA, National Association of Women Lawyers, Southern California Edison, Writers’ Guild of America and Walmart); law firms; judges and government organizations.

Staats’ work is conducted at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. It is led by Executive Director Sharon L. Davies, and the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Michael E. Moritz College of Law, at The Ohio State University. The Institute is known and respected nationally and deeply engaged locally.

ABOUT THE COLUMBUS BAR ASSOCIATION:

Until (and unless) there is new discovery, the Columbus Bar is the first and oldest Bar Association in the State of Ohio. Legend has it that the Association was initiated by a half dozen or so lawyers (gender exclusive) who read the Law and met regularly in a small room over a tavern (1869). By the time members were celebrating one-hundred years of camaraderie and professional support, attendance was over 1260. Today, membership is close to 5,000 - an inclusive community of professionals, enhanced by their Diversity Initiative (May 2001) that has served as a model for bar associations across the country.

ABOUT BRICKER & ECKLER LLP:

Named to The National Law Journal’s “2013 Midsize Hot List,” Bricker & Eckler is one of Ohio’s leading law firms. Located in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati-Dayton and Marietta, the firm represents a wide variety of clients, including businesses and corporations, nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, health care entities, school districts, municipalities, banks and insurers. The firm has a long history of promoting and supporting diversity and inclusion, in our ongoing effort to reflect the communities and clients that we serve. Connect with us online on our blogs, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.