SIDEBAR Winter 2017-18 - 15

MONTGOMERYBAR.ORG

Leadership, Diversity,
and Winning
E

ach year, Leadership Academy participants, through the
program's signature leadership project, are charged with
exploring an issue of importance to the bar association, and
making recommendations for effective ways to address it. First-year
Academy participants explored the growing access to justice gap in
Montgomery County, and recommended the creation of what has
become the MBA's Access to Justice Coordinator position. Secondyear Academy participants rolled up their sleeves to explore the
bar's efforts to meet the unique needs of its solo and small practice
members; as a result of their recommendations, the new Solo and
Small Firm Practice Committee was created and is going strong.
Emboldened by MBA President Eric Smith's charge, this year's
participants took on the difficult and important subject of Diversity;
their comprehensive and innovative work was met with widespread
praise and enthusiasm.
The group began by reviewing the work of the MBA's Blue
Ribbon Diversity Task Force, created in 2011 to explore new ways
to foster diversity in the MBA. Secure in an understanding of the
successes and challenges of the task force, they continued through
an extensive process of interviews, roundtable discussions, research,
and countless hours of collaboration, culminating in a series of
recommendations which will pave the way to ensuring an even more
diverse and engaged membership. These recommendations include:
* Publication of our efforts, demonstrating to members and
to the public the MBA's commitment to ensuring a diverse
membership;
* Collection of demographic data to assess and track inclusion
and engagement;
* Improvements to the Summer Internship program, centered
around Recruitment, Relationships, and Retention;
* Enhanced community engagement; and
* Creation of a Diversity Oversight Panel to ensure
accountability.
As the group presented these recommendations, they
provided thoughtful reasoning as well as detailed suggestions for
implementation. Following the presentation, bar leadership met to
discuss plans for successful enactment of these recommendations,
and all have expressed enthusiastic commitment.

The driving force to move these recommendations forward will
be the MBA's Diversity Committee. To effectively tackle the many
important tasks ahead, the committee will divide into several subcommittees/work groups. These will include:
o Summer Internship Recruitment
o Summer Internship Programming
o Alumni Program - creation and implementation
o Membership Outreach
o Youth and Community Engagement - to enhance MBA's
presence in the community and promote commitment
to diversity
The committee will also be responsible for the promotion of
commitment and progress, which will include:
o Creation of a clear MBA Diversity Commitment statement
to be displayed on our website;
o Creation of a Diversity Committee mission statement and
a list of goals; and
o Creation of criteria for the newly developed Davenport
Award, honoring an MBA individual or group who
demonstrates commitment to and progress towards the
association's diversity goals
With such essential and exciting undertakings ahead, Diversity
Committee meetings are sure to be filled with energy, excitement,
and productivity. If you would like to be a part of this important
committee, consider attending the first meeting of the year,
scheduled for Wednesday, January 17th at noon (please register
online at www.montgomerybar.org).
Through impressive work in their leadership project, and in
their continued work through the MBA and the legal community,
the 2017 Leadership Academy participants prove that "winning is
what happens when commitment, desire, talent, preparation, hard
work, and leadership all come together" (Tom Coughlin). These ten
outstanding young leaders are, indeed, winners. Congratulations to
Kevin Birkhead; Faith Bones; Kristen Feden; Brie Halfond; Rebecca
Hobbs; Kesha James; Michael Lyon; Joseph McNelis, III; Philip
Press; and Hooma Shah on a job well-done!

WINTER 2017-18 15
https://montgomerybar.org/ http://www.montgomerybar.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SIDEBAR Winter 2017-18
