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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFor the first time, the Indianapolis Bar Foundation’s Lawyers Links Classic golf outing presented by Wilson Kehoe & Winingham LLC is being held at one of Indy’s finest golf courses, The Brickyard Crossing, on July 20. Even more, due to the generosity of Penske Entertainment, who is hosting the tournament, the foundation can raise even more dollars which will be aimed at improving diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within our legal community.
The ability to attract and retain professionals such as attorneys has significant impact on the growth and success of a community. To quote the American Bar Association, “A diverse legal profession is more just, productive, and intelligent because diversity, both cognitive and cultural, often leads to better questions, analyses, solutions, and processes.” Nationwide, the legal profession significantly lacks diversity and inclusion.
The availability of diverse attorneys to act as advocates is even lower in Indiana, and particularly in our state’s largest city, than it is nationally. Our best data suggests that Black or African Americans represent nearly 30% of our Indianapolis neighbors, yet less than 5% (312) of Indianapolis attorneys are Black or African American. Even more, less than 2% (141) of Indianapolis attorneys are members of other racially or ethnically diverse groups. Less data is available regarding LGBTQIA lawyers, though it could be reasonably assumed representation within that community is also disproportionately low.
The Bar Foundation intends to use the funds raised to assist in doubling the number of diverse attorneys in the Indianapolis metropolitan area by 2033 through recruitment and retention programs. Some of the plans for achieving this goal include collaborating with the Marion County Bar Association, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Indiana, the Hispanic Lawyers Division of the Indianapolis Bar Association and Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law to host job opportunity events to attract diverse law students, including the Diversity Job Fair set for July 24-25 and a minimum of four annual “The Seat is Yours” network building social events.
Registration for the golf outing is now open on the IndyBar website.
The Indianapolis Bar Foundation is the charitable arm of the Indianapolis Bar Association. The foundation was created in 1968 to provide a charitable opportunity for members and friends of the Indianapolis legal community to donate time and money to provide support to central Indiana families of limited means experiencing legal problems and to help support law students and young lawyers as they embark on their careers. Since its inception, the IndyBar Foundation has granted more than $2.5 million to support educational, cultural, character-building and community service organizations.•
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