June 2009 Diversity Leadership Council Newsletter

By Alice M. Noble-Allgire

As I write this column, Lynn Grayson and I are putting the finishing touches on a comprehensive report to the Board of Governors detailing the activities of the Task Force on Diversity during the past two years and offering a plan of action to chart the course for the ISBA’s diversity efforts into the future.

By Sepi Ghafouri

Last summer, the Supreme Court of California became the second state high court in the United States to end years of marriage inequality.

Remarks prepared by Attorney General Eric Holder.

By Andrea Flynn

 As lawyers, we are trained to tackle intellectual problems daily; however, a lack of diversity and troubled race relations cannot be easily analyzed and solved like a legal issue.

By Erica Zalokar

This spring, a new resource, The Legal Balance, will be made available to women attorneys here in Chicago.  

By William D. Goren

The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 overrule several United States Supreme Court decisions that had narrowed considerably the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

By Albert J. Klumpp

Last spring more than 2,500 ISBA members participated in a survey conducted by the ISBA’s Task Force on Diversity.

By Lisa T. Scruggs, Sandi J. Toll, & Shyni Varghese

In a decision issued by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Martin S. Agran, the Court announced that Plaintiffs in the Chicago Urban League et al. v. State of Illinois and Illinois State Board of Education case have stated a valid claim of discriminatory disparate impact under the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003.  

By Pamela M. Belyn

In the summer of 2008, a group of more than 30 women’s initiatives in Chicago law firms came together to form the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law Firms—the first organization of its kind in the United States. The Coalition’s mission is to benefit member firms by providing positive avenues of communication, collaboration and guidance that help member groups to enhance the recruitment, retention and promotion of women lawyers and support the building, implementation and continued relevancy of women’s initiatives in law firms.

By Yolaine Dauphin

According to The Skeptic’s Guide to the Global AIDS Crisis, a book authored by Dale Hanson Bourke, approximately 8,500 people die of AIDS every day.

By Paul M. Smith, Daniel I. Weiner, & Lindsey C. Harrison

On March 3, 2009, the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) commenced a challenge to Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), 1 U.S.C. § 7, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.  

By Jane DiRenzo Pigott & E. Lynn Grayson

The Chicago Bar Association (“CBA”) issued a Call to Action (“CTA”) in 2004 with 10 law firms acting as leadership signatories: