CCCBA Diversity Award Program Announced

Diversity and inclusion in the law is something the Contra Costa County Bar Association values greatly and has worked hard to promote. To that end, we are pleased to announce the Bar Association has decided to recognize and present awards to law firms that embrace and implement diversity awareness and inclusiveness in their firms. A “law firm” for these purposes includes law practices of any size – including solo practitioners. Our hope is this initiative will inspire us to be more aware, and inclusive, and to better appreciate our differences.

There are four levels for this award – Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. In order to quality for an award the law firm must demonstrate its commitment to diversity education within the office, external and internal diversity efforts and on recruiting and retaining diverse attorneys. The application includes a list of about 100 different diversity and inclusion activities to choose from. Firms which complete at least 45 tasks earn the Platinum Diversity Award – our highest honor. Completion of 35 tasks earns Gold; 25 Silver; and 15 Bronze. The 2017 CCCBA Diversity Award Checklist is available here. Firms that wish to be considered must submit their award checklist by December 15, 2017. We will recognize and present awards to our firms at the Installation Lunch in January 2018.

Special thanks to the members of the Contra Costa County Bar Association Diversity Committee who have worked with me, as chair of the Diversity Awards Sub-committee, in formulating this initiative. I would particularly like to thank the other members of the Award Sub-committee: Mona Aghazadeh-Sanaei, Kristen Thall Peters and Phil Andersen.

We are hoping this award will strengthen the commitment so many of our members made when CCCBA initially rolled out our Diversity Pledge, and we invite all of you to join us in pledging to advance diversity and inclusion in our Bar Association.