Florida Bar drops diversity and inclusion language from its internal policy
The Florida Bar’s board of governors on Friday eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion language from its organizational policy. (Illustration by Sara Wadford/ABA Journal/Shutterstock)
The Florida Bar’s board of governors on Friday eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion language from its organizational policy, a move that follows the Florida Supreme Court’s February mandate for the bar to stop funding diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Reuters and Bloomberg Law have the story.
Gone is the statement that the Florida Bar is “fully committed to the enhancement of diversity and inclusion” within the legal profession, legal education and the justice system, according to Reuters. Also gone is a statement that the Florida Bar “affirms its commitment toward a diverse and inclusive environment.”
Replacement language says the Florida Bar is “fully committed to the improvement of legal services” and “an environment that fosters equal access and opportunity for all.”
Harsh Arora, who was a member of the bar’s now-disbanded diversity and inclusion committee, told Bloomberg Law that the new language shows that the bar will focus on improving the legal system and making sure that no one feels excluded. As a result of the changes, minority bars will now have to rely more on private funding for events that could have been sponsored by the bar, he said.
The Florida Bar is an arm of the Florida Supreme Court, which has oversight of the bar’s budget.
Besides eliminating funding for bar DEI initiatives, the Florida Supreme Court has also banned course credit in the state for any continuing legal education programs with panel quotas, narrowed the type of “fairness and diversity” courses judges can take to satisfy continuing education requirements, and cut “bias elimination” topics from ethics classes needed for Florida lawyers to satisfy CLE requirements.
The ABA revised its requirements for CLE panel diversity after Florida enacted its CLE panel quota ban.
