An Open Letter To The ABA and Lawyers Everywhere

Photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash

When I was a kid, I grew up with an overwhelming desire to fight for justice even though I knew the fight wasn’t fair. I grew up hearing stories about Thurgood Marshall and Johnny Cochran and thought that if I could just be like these men, I could help to eradicate the injustices I saw all around me.

So I set out to do just that.

As a black child, I was repeatedly told that I would have to work twice as hard to get half as much as my white counterparts, and I, like many others, internalized that belief.

I worked hard. I kept going. I kept pushing no matter what, and when I still had that fire for justice after college, I went on to law school. As a young woman, I believed that I’d be able to take part in creating the justice I’ve been seeking my entire life once I was there.

But as soon as I began law school, I realized that the legal profession, much like justice itself, isn’t blind. It is elitist, classist, racist, sexist, and lacks diversity.

It’s also de…