A Report Summarizing Affinity Bar Town Hall Meetings

As expressed in the Committee’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement, one of the fundamental goals of the Committee is to “effect real, meaningful change in the profession to not only ensure that systemically oppressed legal professionals in Massachusetts receive equal treatment, but that they receive the support they need to achieve equitable access to and success in the profession, and that the barriers, challenges and insults they face every day are reduced, mitigated and, ultimately, eliminated.”  In an effort to begin identifying the concrete challenges to professional well-being faced by Massachusetts lawyers, judges, and law students from underrepresented populations, in June 2020, the Committee began hosting a series of town hall meetings with various Massachusetts affinity bar associations. The goal of these sessions was for the Committee to hear from these legal professionals about their own lived experiences, to hear their stories.  

On February 4, 2021 we released our Report Summarizing Affinity Bar Town Hall Meetings. The Report provides a summary of seven meetings the Committee conducted in the second half of 2020 to hear from attorneys and law students from underrepresented, historically excluded, and systemically oppressed populations about their recent experiences of Massachusetts law practice and culture.

The results were saddening, and often painful to hear.  As Committee Co-Chairs Retired SJC Associate Justice Margot Botsford and current Massachusetts Bar Association President Denise Murphy describe: “This report is a reality check for those among us who think that all Massachusetts lawyers are treated equally and that our efforts to eliminate systemic bias are working.  As difficult as it is to read this report and all that it contains, imagine having to live these experiences, every day.  We need to understand and acknowledge this current reality in order to work meaningfully to improve the legal profession for the future.”  Ultimately, the Committee hopes that these stories and this Report will help in the collaborative design and implementation of various projects that, we hope, will address elements of the legal profession in Massachusetts making participation and survival, let alone success and well-being, so much harder to achieve and sustain for members of these groups.