It is the mission of the Committee on Minorities and Women in the Law:

1. To educate the legal community and general public on issues relating to minorities and women in the practice of law;
2. To support and serve minority and women practicing attorneys and students, by advocating the retention and advancement of minority and women lawyers;
3. To develop strategies to broaden the legal opportunities for minority and women attorneys; and
4. To promote the "Statement of Goals for Increasing Minority and Woman Representation and Retention."

Member roster and committee leadership

For member roster, please click here. CMWL's chair for 2009-2010 is Roxann Gallagher.

How to Join CMWL

Appointments to CMWL are made by the President of the State Bar each year.  To apply, an individual must complete the application for State Bar committee appointment, which is found on the Bar’s website by clicking here.  Applicants may apply in the Spring of each year, and appointments are made around the time of the Bar’s annual convention – late June/early July.   Members’ terms are for 3 years.

History of CMWL

More information coming soon!

What can CMWL do for you?

CMWL operates many programs through its subcommittees:

State Bar Convention CLE Program
Each year, CMWL organizes a CLE program about minorities and women in the law at the State Bar’s convention in June.
More information coming soon.

Chairs:  Rodney Galarza

Past seminar topics include:

• 2009 - Promises, Purposes and Progress, Revisiting Landmark Civil Rights Legislation and the Americans with Disabilities Act. This was co-sponsored with the Committee on Persons with Disabilities in the Legal Profession and the Employment & Labor Law Section.
• 2008 - Staying relevant: Civil Rights in 2008, Learning from the past, addressing today's concerns and preparing for future challenges. Co-sponsored with Committee on Persons w/Disabilities in the Legal Profession
• 2007 - The D Word: A Candid Look at Achieving a Diverse Legal Profession
• 2006 - Dealing with Differences: Breaking Barriers for Bottom-Line Benefits. Co-sponsored with Committee on Persons w/Disabilities and the Arizona Women Lawyers Association.

Tang Writing Competition
Each Spring, CMWL sponsors an essay competition in which law students at each of Arizona’s three law schools (ASU, U of A, and Phoenix School of Law) may participate. The competition is named after the late 9th Circuit Judge Thomas Tang, in recognition of and to honor his special achievements and interest in diversifying the legal profession.

Prizes:  $1000 for first place essay, $500 for second place essay.  Winners are announced and prizes are distributed at the annual Minority Bar Convention in April.  In the past, the winning essay has been printed in the Arizona Attorney.

2010 Tang Competition information – 2010 question

Winning Essays:

1st Place
Veronica Lucero
Phoenix School of Law
JMay 2012
"The Richness of Personal Experience" in Context
Read essay

2nd Place
Ismail Kukhmazov
ASU - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
May, 2012
The Power of Empathy
Read essay

Past Tang Competition information – 2009 question and winning essay

Chair:  Randy Aoyama

ASU Minority Writing Program
Each year, in conjunction with ASU’s legal writing program and the Maricopa County Bar Association Minority and Women Task Force, CMWL provides a unique opportunity for second-year law students in Phoenix to clerk with private law firms to enhance their legal education.  

Brochure for Minority Writing Program

Chair:  Jo Ellen McBride

Law School Outreach
CMWL actively coordinates events with bar members and students at each of the Arizona law schools in order to encourage the advancement of minorities and women in the law through recruitment and hiring.  Committee members provide information, advice, and contacts to law students about State Bar programs and CMWL specifically. For current law school outreach events, please see our Upcoming Events section of this page.

Chair:  Maricela Meza (U of A); Jennifer Valadez; Rodney Galarza and Clarence Matherson (ASU)

Commitment to Inclusion Goals
In 1992, CMWL surveyed legal employers within Arizona to determine minority and women participation, and the State Bar Board of Governors adopted CMWL’s “Statement of Goals for Increasing Minority and Women Representation and Retention.” Various legal employers became signatories to the Statement of Goals, and data was collected and studied from 1993 to 2003.  CMWL submitted its report on the Statement of Goals to the Board of Governors in April 2006.  From that report came many recommendations, including the hiring of a full-time Diversity Director for the State Bar and formation of a Bar Leadership Institute, which have since been adopted. Click here to view the April 2006 report.

In January 2009, the State Bar’s Diversity Department sent letters to private and public law offices encouraging them to become Signatories to the Bar’s Commitment to Inclusion Program.  The Program seeks to provide for full participation of all groups of people in the legal program and encourages law offices to follow guidelines describing best practices in hiring; retention; and promotion of minority, women and underrepresented groups of lawyers.  It was a project of the CMWL and endorsed by the Arizona Women Lawyers Associations, Arizona Black Bar Association, Los Abogados Hispanic Bar Association and Native American Bar Association.

Law office participation requires the completion of a short survey a well as providing the Bar with statistical information.  Fourteen law offices submitted information as of April 13, 2009.  Current Signatories include:  Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP, Bowman and Brooke LLP, Bryan Cave LLP, Fennemore Craig PC, Gallagher & Kennedy PA, Gust Rosenfeld PLC, Kutak Rock LLP, Lewis and Roca LLP, Osborn Maledon PA, Perkins Coie Brown & Bain PA, Quarles & Brady LLP, Ryley Carlock & Applewhite PA, Snell & Wilmer LLP and Waterfall Economidis Caldwell Hanshaw & Villamana PC.

To view the Statement of Goals, please click here.

List of Signatories

Osborn Maledon PA
Bowman and Brooke LLP
Kutak Rock LLP
Quarles & Brady LLP
Snell & Wilmer, LLP
Lewis and Roca LLP
Fennemore Craig, PC
Ryley Carlock & Applewhite PA
Gust Rosenfeld PLC
Gallagher & Kennedy PA
Perkins Coie Brown & Bain PA
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
Waterfall, Economidis, Caldwell, Hanshaw, & Villamana, P.C.

Chair:  Jenae Naumann

CMWL Award
 Each year at the State Bar Convention, CMWL presents the CMWL Award to an attorney who meets the following criteria.

Criteria:  

Individual has achieved professional excellence in his/her field AND

1. Influenced minorities and/or women to pursue legal careers OR

2. Opened doors for minority and/or women lawyers in a variety of job settings that historically were closed to them OR

3. Advanced opportunities for minority and/or women lawyers within a practice area or segment of the profession.

Past recipients of the CMWL award include:
2000 Marian Yim
2001 Jo Ellen McBride
2002 Hon. Michael D. Ryan
2003 Chris Brian Nakamura
2004 JoAnn P. Garcia
2005 Jenae R. Naumann
2006 Patricia A. Green
2007 Mari Valenzuela
2008 Lisa Loo
2009 Shelli Soto

Chair:  Paula Bickett    

Minority Bar Convention
CMWL co-hosts the annual Arizona Minority Bar Convention, held each April.  Committee members are encouraged to attend the convention, and the committee’s April meeting is held on the Saturday of the convention each year.

Convention Date: April 15 & 16, 2010

2009 - 2010 Chair:  Dawn Valdivia

Website
CMWL maintains a website about its programs.  The site links to the State Bar’s diversity website, which contains information about diversity in the legal profession and links to sister bar organizations.

2009 - 2010 Chair:  Greg Gautam

Links
State Bar Diversity Department
Through the efforts of CMWL and others, the Arizona State Bar created a Diversity Department.  Please see its web page for a wealth of information on diversity in the legal profession, State Bar diversity programming, and links to sister bar organizations.

State Bar Leadership Institute
Also through the efforts of CMWL and others, the State Bar created the Bar Leadership Institute (BLI).  BLI is a one-year program designed to foster the professional growth and leadership skills of a promising group of diverse attorneys.  Because space is limited, selection is competitive.

SBA Committee Contacts: