Annual Meeting’s Featured Speakers
Highlight Diversity in Law
Diversity in law was a key topic at this year’s
annual meeting, and the event’s featured
speakers addressed diversity in the legal
profession and its impact on clients and
communities, as well as the importance of
individuals in the profession recognizing and
combating biases in the judicial system.
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice
Alan Page addressed attendees in his
presentation titled “Awareness of Ethics and
the Elimination of Bias in Law.” Page noted
it is imperative legal professionals work to
eliminate racial disparities and bias in the
justice system, which starts on an individual
basis.
Page touched on his early interest in law,
including the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision
in Brown vs. Board of Education when he
was a young child. The ruling said racial
segregation in public schools violated the
constitution.
In his speech, Page also spoke to modern
criminal justice issues, noting there is
something “fundamentally wrong” when the
judicial system “consistently denies equal
justice to our communities of color.” He
called on individuals to protect independence
and impartiality and examine their own
biases.
Page sought election to the Minnesota
Supreme Court in 1992 and won, becoming
the first African American on the court
and one of the few associate justices ever
to join the court initially through election,
rather than appointment by the governor.
When Justice Page was reelected in 1998, he
became the biggest vote-getter in Minnesota
history. He was reelected in 2004 and 2010,
and served until he reached the mandatory
retirement age of 70 in 2015.
Law was Page’s second career; he was a
first-round draft choice of the Minnesota
Vikings in 1967 and played for the Vikings
until 1978. He went to law school while
playing football, graduating in 1978. In
1988, Page and his wife, Diane, founded the
Page Education Foundation, which assists
students of color in their pursuit of postsecondary education. To date, the foundation
has awarded more than $12 million in grants
to more than 6,000 individuals.
Retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice
Alan Page encouraged SBAND members to
work to eliminate bias in the justice system.
Paulette Brown, president of the American
Bar Association (ABA), was also part of
a discussion panel covering the topic of
“Diversity and Bias in the Profession” at
this year’s annual meeting. Her comments
focused primarily on diversity and inclusion
in the profession and the need for individuals
to examine biases.
She discussed the influence of “implicit
bias” on individuals’ thoughts and decisions,
noting biases are developed unconsciously,
but people have the ability to learn to
recognize them.
Brown has held many positions throughout
her career, including in-house counsel to a
number of Fortune 500 companies and as
a municipal court judge. In private practice,
she has focused on all facets of labor and
employment and commercial litigation.
(L to R) Page, ABA President Paulette Brown and former SBAND President Joe Wetch.
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Brown has been recognized by the National
Law Journal as one of “The 50 Most
Influential Minority Lawyers in America”
and by the New Jersey Law Journal as one