The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Minority Bar Committee is holding its second Annual Diversity Summit on Tuesday, October 23, 2007, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's CLE Conference Center, Wanamaker Building, 10th Floor, opposite City Hall in Philadelphia.

This year's Summit will include, as invited guests, the region's hiring partners, managing partners, and others with similar authority to ensure that our profession attracts and retains a diverse attorney workforce. The theme for the Summit is Pathways To Legal Careers: Best Practices For Hiring And Retaining A Diverse Legal Workforce.

Andrew Susko, the current President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, will give welcoming remarks. Lydia Hernandez-Velez, Esq., Community Relations Executive and Senior Vice President for Wachovia will be the morning's keynote speaker, and the luncheon speaker will be Juan Williams, senior reporter for NPR and author of the acclaimed Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965. In addition to talking about current issues of interest to our legal community in Washington and elsewhere, Mr. Williams will speak to the importance of providing legal aid to the poor, and of having a diverse legal profession.

The luncheon program will feature a celebration of the 15 years that the PA Legal Aid Network (PLAN) has been placing first- and second-year minority law students in summer internships in legal aid offices around the state. The program will also include recognition of PLAN's Martin Luther King Fellowship Program, which provides funding to minority attorneys who agree to spend two years as legal aid lawyers in under served areas of the state.

In conjunction with the anniversary celebration, PLAN has set a goal of raising $100,000 for the Fellowship Program for each of the next two years to guarantee that fellowships can be offered in each of those years.
Law firms and other supporters from around the state are showing their support for the fellowship program by pledging $5,000 toward the program this year and an additional $5,000 toward the program next year.

If you, or your firm or company, is interested in pledging your support for the fellowship program you can do so by clicking on the link below. A list of firms who have already pledged their support is at the associated link below.

Alternatively, you can support the program by sponsoring the anniversary celebration event. Pledges of sponsorship for the event can also be made at the link below.

Diversity has been a stated goal of The Pennsylvania Bar Association for over 15 years. The purpose of the Summit is to provide a forum for leaders of private law firms, corporate law departments, government agencies and public interest programs to share their efforts in promoting diversity, including their methods, programs, successes and other experiences. Representatives of law schools will also be present to discuss how to ensure the effectiveness of that pipeline to the profession.

The Summit will cost just $35 to attend and attendees will receive 5 hours of CLE ethics credits, a continental breakfast, the PLAN luncheon and a networking reception. The Agenda and Summit Registration Form is available at the links below.

Agenda [PDF]
Registration Form (Deadline: October 15, 2007) [PDF]

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