A Journey Through the Pipeline: Identifying Challenges, Improving Diversity in the Legal Profession

A Journey Through the Pipeline: Identifying Challenges and Improving Diversity and Inclusion in the Legal Profession

Join academics, practitioners, members of the bench, students, and others for a thoughtful program that examines the challenges the legal profession faces as it strives to increase the number of practicing minority attorneys. This “journey” will include presentations on the pipeline, from primary school through law school, followed by the recruitment process and challenges in the workplace. The program will conclude with an examination of the judicial pathway for minority lawyers. Students will have the opportunity to participate in "speed mentoring" with professionals representing a variety of legal settings.

This program has been approved by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 4 hours of total CLE credit.  Of these, 2.5 hours qualify as hours of credit for ethics/professionalism, and 1.5 qualify as hours of credit toward certification in Constitutional Law and Law Practice Management.

SETON HALL|LAW
Thursday, March 15, 2012

1:15 p.m. Registration

2 p.m. Welcome: Dean Patrick E. Hobbs

Introductory Remarks: Chief Justice Stuart Rabner

2:20 p.m. The Challenges Begin: Primary and Secondary School Education

Shavar D. Jeffries, Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall Law
Craig Livermore, Executive Director, NJ LEEP
Teresa L. Moore, Rutgers-Newark Institute on Education Law and Policy; Center for Urban and Public Service
Moderator: Alycia M. Guichard, Director and New Jersey State Bar Fellow for the Street Law Program and Associate Director for the Minority Student Program, Rutgers University School of Law

3:20 p.m. The Challenges Continue: College and Law School Overcoming Racial Obstacles to Success in Law: Studies and Practices

Rachel Godsil, Eleanor Bontecou Professor of Law, Seton Hall Law
Vielka V. Holness, Director, the Pre Law Institute, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Janai S. Nelson, Associate Professor of Law Associate Director of The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development, St. John's University School of Law
Moderator: Chrishana M. White ’13, Vice President, Black Law Students Association, Seton Hall Law

4:20 p.m. Break

4:40 p.m. Recruiting and Retaining Minority Lawyers

Luis J. Diaz, Chief Diversity Officer and Director, Intellectual Property, Gibbons P.C.
Natalia Martin, Director of Diversity, Simpson Thacher
Karol Corbin Walker, Shareholder, LeClairRyan
Moderator: Walter F. Timpone, Partner, McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP

5:40 p.m. Pathways to the Judiciary for Minority Lawyers

Julie Cavanagh, Assistant Counsel, Appointments Office, Office of the Governor of New Jersey
Judge Esther Salas, U.S. District Court, Newark
Justice James H. Coleman Jr., Of Counsel, Porzio, Bromberg & Newman P.C.
Jeremy Farrell, Diversity Committee Chair, McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP; Former Law Clerk; Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh, United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Newark
Moderator: Judge Sohail Mohammed, New Jersey Superior Court Judge, Passaic County

6:40 p.m. Closing Remarks: Susan A. Feeney, President, New Jersey State Bar Association

*** Attorneys receiving CLE credit are reminded to sign out ***

7 p.m. Reception The Newark Club

Speed Mentoring Breakout for Law Students

7:30 p.m. Introduction: Walter F. Timpone, Partner, McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP

Guest Speaker: Paula T. Dow, First Deputy General Counsel, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey