Minority Issues, Women's Issues

The Excuse For Why Stanford's FutureLaw Event Completely Lacked Diversity

There is no such thing as diversity and inclusion without action.

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white men white male lawyers partners diversityLast week, I wrote this article about the lack of diversity at Stanford’s Codex event on “futurelaw.” My desire for writing this article was frustration and a deep level of exhaustion that even in 2017(!!!), institutions like Stanford still pay lip service about diversity.

The word “diversity” is a loaded term, especially now. I get that. And conversations about it can be awkward. After all, we are talking about uncomfortable topics like race, gender, sexual identity, class and poverty, disability and different ability.

Even in conversations with my own husband (who is white), this is difficult. We’ve had lengthy conversations about another loaded word, “privilege.” Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don’t; sometimes we make changes and adjustments because we learn from each others’ perspectives. It’s uncomfortable to have someone point to you and say, “you have privilege.” Often, it feels like the underlying message is, “you are a bad person.” But discomfort and perceived judgement isn’t enough of a reason for any of us to stay silent and hold up progress on achieving diversity.

As I wrote before, I care about CodeX. I happen to be close friends with many attendees and speakers. I chose not to attend CodeX this year as my own way of protest. My way of saying something when I see a lack of inclusion includes doing something: not attending and raising awareness.

I received a response from Roland Vogl, the Executive Director at CodeX which you can read in full on the next page. He begins the email by saying:

The other organizers (Stanford Professor Michael Genesereth and CodeX Fellow Susan Salkind) and I put a great deal of effort into getting a diverse group of panelists.

Having a female fellow on your planning committee does not ensure your conference will be diverse. The science on this is clear, simply having a woman or a person of color on your committee is insufficient to achieve diversity and inclusion without further implementation.

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Also, simply saying, “the conference will be diverse” doesn’t make it so (as the data reflects.)

He then goes on to say:

We strive to not only get racial and gender diversity but also representation from multiple sectors, career functions, or opposing viewpoints at our events.

Fair enough. There are many different dimensions of diversity. However, saying, we were trying to get “representation from multiple sectors” does not and should not equate to, we couldn’t find women or POC for our speakers or our organization.

As I wrote in my previous post, last year, I pointed out the lack of diversity at CodeX, privately. I was asked to suggest a number of speakers. I did. Then was told, we only want people who are part of the “CodeX community.” This of course makes it difficult, if not impossible, to have meaningful diversity since CodeX is, as the data shows, siloed.

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There was also some vague commitment to caring about diversity.

This year, when I saw the same thing AGAIN, I decided to write the article. More than ever, this is the conversation that needs to be had: how do we (as in, CodeX and Stanford) open spaces and create an atmosphere where inclusion and diversity is not an optional and politically motivated “add-on,” but the foundation of everything that we do?

Some of you might know that I just returned from a month-long silent meditation retreat at Spirit Rock. One of the things that really struck me about the retreat was the impact inclusion can have on the way people feel and interact.

Spirit Rock retreat center has been criticized for its lack of diversity and inclusion. In fact, the lack of diversity led to many faculty members to resign as a form of protest. Spirit Rock responded by publicly acknowledging this problem. “As Spirit Rock’s Board of Directors, we share in their [faculty members’] distress and hold ourselves accountable.”

The BOD didn’t shrug their shoulders and say, “well, we have women teachers” or “we really want diversity.” They took the time to empathically listen to those who are expressing deep concern and distress. And Spirit Rock acted. It sought out the most diverse group of participants I have ever seen at a retreat. Their new incoming teacher training class is a “majority of people of color.”

At Spirit Rock, I experienced a possibility of what inclusion and diversity looks like when more than a vague slogan.

Having conversations about the lack of women or people of color in your organization is never going to be a pleasant or easy. It will surely be uncomfortable and difficult. However, what is becoming very clear to me is that this discomfort too must be something we can learn to tolerate and hold with kindness and compassion.

Roland concludes his email by saying:

We agree that more diversity at legal technology events, including FutureLaw, is important. We welcome suggestions of people in the legal technology field we might reach out to for participation in next year’s conference and we invite you to join our planning meeting for FutureLaw 2018 (starting in the fall of 2017).

The question I am left with it this: Is CodeX willing to do what is necessary to create the paradigm shift and probe its blind spots so that real change in representation can occur? Or is CodeX, as is often the case, simply trying to push the responsibility of diversity on someone else?

Diversity will not be achieved by outsourcing.

It can’t be just about good PR.

Simply saying “we want diversity” is a hollow claim. Similarly, inviting a token woman or a minority won’t solve the problem.

If the mission of CodeX is to “spend a day with the community that is shaping the future of law” it should pause, look at itself, and ask, “Who gets to be part of the community?” And if the community is going to include more diversity, “How are we going to do it?” Then it must take action. 

So, that’s the deal. There is no such thing as diversity and inclusion without action. Knowing which actions to take must start with taking a good look at the ways in which you may be intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously, contributing to lack of diversity and inclusion throughout the whole ecosystem.

Earlier: ‘FutureLaw’ Promises To Be Very Male And Very White

Jeena Cho HeadshotJeena Cho is the author of The Anxious Lawyer: An 8-Week Guide to a Joyful and Satisfying Law Practice Through Mindfulness and Meditation (affiliate link). She regularly speaks and offers training on mindfulness and meditation. You can reach her at hello@jeenacho.com or @jeena_cho on Twitter.

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