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Opportunities to Promote Diversity / President’
Blue Ribbon Commission>>>Overview
2006 President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Diversity in the
Legal Profession in Silicon Valley
Composition of the Commission: The Commission was appointed by 2006 SCCBA President Christopher Arriola. The Commission was comprised of over 60 members, including managing partners of the major Silicon Valley law firms such as Fenwick & West, Wilson Sonsini, Hoge Fenton Jones & Appel, Pillsbury Winthrup and Bingham McCutcheon; general counsel of the Silicon Valley’s most prominent technology companies, such as Intel, Google, Sun Microsystems, Adobe and Oracle; representative law professors from Silicon Valley law schools such as Margaret Russell; district attorney and county counsel for Santa Clara County and Santa Cruz County such as George Kennedy, Santa Clara County District Attorney, Ann Ravel, Santa Clara County Counsel, Dana McRae, Santa Cruz County Counsel; local judges sitting in Santa Clara County such as Justice Nathan Mihara of the California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District, Presiding Judge Alden Danner and Assistant Presiding Judge Catherine Gallagher of the Superior Court of California for Santa Clara County; the elected officers of the SCCBA; and other general counsel such as Debra Zumwalt of Stanford. The Commission was co-chaired by California Supreme Court Associate Justice Carlos Moreno and Bruce Sewell, General Counsel and Vice-President, Intel, Inc. A complete roster of the Commission members is attached. Purpose of the Commission: The purpose of the Commission was to study issues within the region and identify programs from across the State and Nation to formulate an indigenous solution to the unique hurdles facing the legal profession inBlue Ribbon Commission Report: The culmination of the 2006 Commission’s work was the publication of a 60 page report discussing the background, problems, trends and issues in three major areas of concern in increasing diversity in the legal profession in Silicon Valley: 1) eliminating the limitations women and minorities face in advancing to positions of leadership and management within the profession (glass ceiling issues); 2) hiring and retention; and 3) ensuring that minorities are positioned educationally and financially in sufficient numbers to enter the legal profession (pipeline issues). The report includes recommendations addressing these three areas that focus on the organized bar, law firms and law schools. Click here for the full report.
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