Government

California Lawmakers Planning To Scrutinize Lack Of Diversity In State's Legal System

An upcoming legislative hearing will examine ways to boost minority representation in the law and on the bench.

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The California Legislature is putting a spotlight on the lack of diversity among the state’s legal profession and judiciary.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee will host a May 14 informational hearing in Sacramento focusing on what the state can do to ensure those practicing law and sitting on the bench better reflect the make-up of California as a whole.

The State Bar has reported that 77 percent of attorneys in California are white, while only 41 percent of the state’s adult population is Caucasian.

Meanwhile, just 6 percent of the attorney population identifies as Latino even though Latinos comprise 35 percent of the state’s adult population.

In addition, 42 percent of the legal profession is made up of women, even though a slim majority of California adults are female.

Assemblyman Mark Stone, chair of his chamber’s Judiciary Committee, said the state has plenty of room for improvement in this realm. He also said there is a close link between the lack of diversity among lawyers and the judiciary.

“We are going to have make the legal profession look more like California for the bench to look more like California,” said Stone, a Monterey Bay Democrat.

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Roughly two-thirds of the state’s judges are white, while about 11 percent are Hispanic, 8 percent are Asian, and 8 percent are African-American.

Furthermore, nearly 64 percent of judges are men, according to Judicial Council data.

These figures come even after years of greater judicial diversity achieved under former Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration.

Of the 644 judges Brown appointed during his two most recent terms, about 40 percent identified as non-white and 44 percent were women.

California Supreme Court Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, the first Asian-American and second woman to serve as the state’s chief justice, recently praised Brown for his work to diversify the bench.

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Stone acknowledged progress has been made in bringing more diversity to the judiciary, but he said more can be done.

The impact on diversity from California having the second-highest passing score on the bar exam is expected to be discussed at the hearing as well, with law students and law school deans slated to be among the speakers. Stone’s committee in recent years advocated for the cut score to be lowered, but the California Supreme Court decided in 2017 to leave it in place for now amid record-low pass rates.

Stone hopes the hearing starting at 9 a.m. on May 14 will be a launchpad for further legislative scrutiny of the legal diversity issues.

“It is a forum to start to ask the questions,” he said. “We may end up with more questions than we started with.”

The lawmaker also stressed that he believes solutions likely to have a lasting impact on what he deemed a complex problem will take time to craft.

The Judiciary Committee’s close examination of legal diversity comes amid renewed efforts by the State Bar of California to make a positive impact in this domain.

Earlier this year, the agency’s board adopted several strategic plan objectives to “support greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system.”

The bar’s planned action steps to meet those goals include:

  • Partnering with California law schools to study attrition rates for law students of color and identifying evidence-based solutions;
  • Reviewing bar exam questions from a diversity and inclusion perspective;
  • Exploring ways that mandatory legal education requirements can be modified to expand and improve elimination of bias training; and
  • Collecting more complete data on attorney demographics, practice types and career trajectories.

The bar plans to use the data it gathers to develop an annual report card evaluating diversity in the state’s legal profession. The agency will among those participating in the Assembly Judiciary Committee’s upcoming hearing on the topic.

Lyle Moran is a freelance writer in San Diego who handles both journalism and content writing projects. He previously reported for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Diego Daily Transcript, Associated Press, and Lowell Sun. He can be reached at lmoransun@gmail.com and found on Twitter @lylemoran.

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