wElcoME Back to anothEr grEat yEar
Diversity & Inclusion Committee
Chairs:MarshaMoses-LawOfficesofKubickiDraperandAbrahamShakfeh-ButlerWeihmullerKatzCraig,LLP
W
hat a great year
2019 has been
for the HCBA’s
Diversity & Inclusion
Committee. Our first major event
was a top-notch speech at the
January Diversity Membership
Luncheon by Adam Foss about
the important topic of maintaining
a criminal justice system that
is smarter, rehabilitative, and
makes us safer, instead of focusing
on punishment for the sake of
punishment. More importantly, Foss
highlighted the need for a system
that does not disproportionately
harm minorities.
Building upon the theme of
criminal justice reform and
minorities, we had an excellent
CLE in April. Tammy Briant
Spratling, former dean of student
affairs at Stetson University
College of Law, talked about the
history of racial injustice in the
South and the progress we have
made. She also reminded us of the
activists who fought against the
overwhelming tide of persecution
and their struggles. She was joined
at the CLE by Rachel Streitfeld
of the ACLU, who spoke about
progress that still needs to be
made. She specifically spoke about
a study commissioned by the ACLU
examining the arrest records for all
defendants in Miami-Dade County,
comparing the arrests rates of
various racial groups. Streitfeld’s
36
Diversity Networking Social in September.
we invite everyone to join us in working to make the
hillsborough county legal community welcoming
and inclusive to persons of all backgrounds.
presentation was a somber reminder
of how much work still needs to be
done to combat disproportionate
harm to minorities.
We also held our Diversity &
Inclusion Networking Social in
September that connected diverse
law students and new lawyers to
employers within the local legal
market. This was an excellent
opportunity for aspiring lawyers
to receive essential advice and
support to help start their legal
careers strong. For the first time,
the program also featured one-on-
one career counseling with more
established legal professionals for
law students and recent graduates.
We also had some amazing raffle
prizes. We are grateful to the
sponsors and participants that helped
make this event a success. (Photos
from the Diversity Networking
Social are on page 38.)
In the upcoming year, you can
expect more great diversity-focused
programming. The HCBA Diversity
Membership Luncheon is scheduled
on January 8, 2020, and we hope
to see everyone there. We also will
have our annual CLE in April 2020.
We invite everyone to join us in
working to make the Hillsborough
County legal community welcoming
and inclusive to persons of all
backgrounds. Our committee
meetings are the third Monday of
every month at 12:00 pm in the
Chester H. Ferguson Law Center,
and it would be our pleasure if
you could attend. We also write
periodic articles for the HCBA’s
Lawyer Magazine, and submissions
are welcome from HCBA members.
Our mission is to increase
diversity and inclusion, so that
legal community reflects the
demographics of our state. We
need your help to accomplish this.
The most important thing you can
do is to be welcoming of other
people from all backgrounds. If you
see someone metaphorically sitting
alone at a table, invite them to join
you, or join them. We look forward
to working with you this Bar year
and seeing you at our events. n
Author: Abraham Shakfeh - Butler
Weihmuller Katz Craig
NOV - DEC 2019
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HCBA LAWYER