http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com "A lawyer is either a social engineer or a parasite." — Charles Hamilton Houston Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:52:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Birmingham, Ala.-based nonprofit released "Illegal Race Discrimination in Jury Selection: A Continuing Legacy," which revealed the systematic exclusion of black jurors from Southern juries. TheRoot In 'Thurgood,' Laurence Fishburne approaches the bench mark.  Catch the act at Washington's Kennedy Center. WaPo This defense attorney really is kick-ass! ATL Groundbreaking retired judge, Damon ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1694 From TheNationsBestAdvocates: For NBA members, law is more than a career—it’s a commitment. United by a need to serve their communities, African American lawyers from across the nation attend the National Bar’s Annual Convention. This year, the National Bar Association and IMPACT will produce the first annual Nation’s Best Advocates (N.B.A.): ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1692 Ming Zhu, a recent Harvard Law grad and current fellow with the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights, just published a study on the tenure-track of minority law professors. She concludes in An Empirical Study of Race and Law School Hiring that while minorities are more likely to be hired, they ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1690 Commentary from The Legal Intelligencer: Earlier this month, The Legal Intelligencer affiliate The American Lawyerreported on a development that was as disheartening as it was expected. Citing its own yearly surveys of National Law Journal 250 firms, the legal profession's flagship publication found that the percentage of lawyers from racial minority groups practicing at ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1686 Roxanne Covington was recently sworn in as a judge in Philadelphia: Roxanne E. Covington is making great strides in Philadelphia, Pa. as a newly elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas. She took the oath of office during a swearing-in ceremony in January. In her new capacity, Covington will serve ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1682 The American Lawyer released its Diversity Scorecard 2010 issue this week.  Reading it, we were reminded of that quote often attributed to Malcolm X:  When White America catches a cold, Black America catches pneumonia. Full report here:  Before reading the highlights provided below, you might want to take a Xanax. One Step ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1677 $30 Million pledged to Minority- and Women-Owned Firms: Prudential and about a dozen other companies, including DuPont and Microsoft, pledged Thursday to spend $30 million in 2010 on minority- and women-owned law firms. In-house lawyers at DuPont and Prudential hatched the idea and recruited in-house lawyers at other companies to build a ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1680 This seems to be a last hired, first fired scenario: Deferred start dates for first-year associates at many firms may help explain what became of some of the missing minority attorneys. Because our survey asked for data as of Sept. 30, 2009, deferred first-years were not included in the firms' head ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1675 Due to "Snowmageddon" this year Black History Month came in March at the Justice Department.  Mr. Holder gave a shout out to the Spingarn Senior High School JROTC Color Guard and Howard University Gospel Choir (who no doubt rocked it) before ruminating on the distance this country has let to ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1669 U.S. News & World Report is catching it from all sides in the legal community.  They are being slammed for trying to rank law firms and accused of contributing to the decrease in minority law students.  At its midyear meeting, the ABA passed a resolution to "study" these so called ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1673 It was a good day in snowy Mississippi for Carlos Moore and his client, Michael Archie.  From the Greenwood Commonwealth: A Leflore County jury decided Tuesday for Michael Archie. It set the price of his ability to use the lower half of his body at $12 million. The a-mount is to be paid ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1667 Earlier this month, TheDirty.com posted nude pictures of San Antonio Spurs Point Guard George Hill.  The photos show Hill in a Spurs cap (and little else).  Hill had apparently texted the pictures along with some revealing text messages to his jump off (he apologized to his girlfriend in an open ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1659 Jarvious Cotton’s great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Klu Klux Klan for attempting to vote. His grandfather was prevented from voting by Klan intimidation; his father was barred by poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, Cotton cannot vote because he, like ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1657 The American Bar Association met in Orlando, FL for its 2010 Midyear Meeting and it was all about diversity. The ABA formally issued its "Diversity in the Legal Profession:  The Next Steps" Report. According to the ABA Diversity Commission: Diversity approaches, according to the study, need to be inclusive, not pigeon-holing lawyers ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1653 From The ABAJournal: A former staff attorney of Covington & Burling can proceed with her federal discrimination claim over the law firm's policy of assigning work, based on a disparate impact theory. However, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton found that Yolanda Young had waited too long to bring a similar claim that the ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1646 From The National Law Journal: Kamisha Menns, a black woman born in Jamaica, says in the complaint, filed in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday, that Howrey violated the D.C. Human Rights Act by retaliating against her, creating a hostile work environment, and inflicting emotional distress, both intentionally and negligently. Menns has asked ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1642 Oracle president Charles Phillips is worth over $100 million.  The NYU New York Law School graduate may need every penny to smooth over the mess created by his mistress' public chronicling of their 8-year affair. A billboard displaying a picture of the executive and his mistress, YaVaughnie Wilkins, during happier times ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1635 Last week in a story about the dearth of marriageable black men we brought you Nicole Marchand, a Prosecutor by day and Atlanta Falcons cheerleader by night (and weekends).  We had assumed this was an anomaly; however, our friends over at Above The Law has found another one. From ATL: An ATL reader ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1626 With high law school debt and low attorney employment we are left to ponder whether the decrease in African American enrollment is indeed a bad thing.  According to The American Lawyer, a study by Columbia Law School's Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic noted the following: Over the relevant 15-year period, ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1631 Watch Kasim Reed take the oath of office as Mayor of Atlanta. According to his campaign: Mayor-Elect Kasim Reed was raised in the Cascade community. He was educated in Fulton County's public schools where he graduated from Utoy Springs Elementary School and Westwood High School (now Westlake High School) and went to ... http://www.onbeingablacklawyer.com/?p=1622