May 31 – June 1, 2001 – Washington DC
Conference on Diversity in the Legal Services Community

             Last year, LSC and NLADA committed to focusing on gender, race and other urgent issues of diversity, with a goal of developing recommendations to the national partners and the field for work that needs to be done in these important areas.  In furtherance of this goal, LSC and NLADA are holding a series of national conversations to discuss diversity in the legal services community.  The first of the national conversations will take place at the 2001 Equal Justice Conference, focusing on gender issues.  In May, LSC and NLADA will hold a meeting to discuss a broader range of diversity issues, including gender, race ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation and identity.  The event will take place in Washington DC on May 31 and June 1, 2001.   

So that the dialogue will reflect the variety of issues and individuals in the legal services community, NLADA and LSC will select participants to reflect both the leadership and emerging leadership of the field.  Further, we expect that participants will broadly mirror the full population of our national community.  As with the March gender meeting, the conference in May will be small, to foster candid conversations on critical concerns.  A subcommittee of representatives from LSC and NLADA will have input into the number of participants and selection of attendees to ensure a productive and results-oriented conference. 

The March and May meetings are convened and designed so that the field and its partners can help shape the development of a series of practical steps and strategies the legal services community can undertake to address critical considerations of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and other aspects of diversity.  Although the issues to be examined have been raised over the years by members of our community, we have not yet produced on a national level a concrete agenda or blueprint for change.  That is the hope for the upcoming diversity conversations. 

The upcoming Diversity in the Legal Services Community Conference will span two days to accommodate the breadth of the issues and the depth of the conversations we envision.  Of concern to NLADA and LSC are the effects of diversity on program staff, priorities and cultivation of a new generation of leaders.  At some point in the national dialogue, we will also examine how these topics affect clients, both in accessing justice and in the way client representation is structured in the field. 

The discussions will be facilitated by experts, who will help design an agenda for the event.  Prior to the conference, we will talk about the topics with attendees and others who may not be able to participate.  In this way, we will seek to have a wide spectrum of opinions to guide the sessions. 

Information on how to apply for participation in the May conference will be available by mid-April.  We hope that the legal services programs in your state will discuss who will be the most appropriate representatives for the meeting from your state.  We look forward to vibrant discussions on these topics along with some specific ideas for implementing change where needed.  

Contact Information 

For more information, contact Regina Derzon at LSC (703/916-0655; rderzon@earthlink.net) or Marc Holladay at NLADA (202/452-0620 ext.226; m.holladay@nlada.org).