The Monroe County Bar Association enjoys a strong membership of 2,200; however, our representation of African-American, Asian, and Hispanic attorneys is currently lower than we would prefer. Following discussion with bar leaders and managing partners, the MCBA was asked to explore ideas on how to recruit more minority attorneys to Rochester.

 

Following a review of several successful diversity program models from throughout the county, the MCBA settled on a well-established program at the Columbus Bar Association in Columbus, Ohio . In the first year of this program, our initial goal was to have 6-10 1L students placed in time for the summer of 2005. In the end, we had commitments from 7 firms, and funding from the MCB Foundation to fund a grant to one of the local legal service providers for a summer law student. We were pleased to increase our goal to 12 1L students in 2006 and to 13 in 2007.

Click here to read about the experiences of this past summer's program participants.