The Santa Clara County Bar Association has a long history of promoting opportunities for minorities in the legal profession and the Association, itself.  If you are interested in volunteering for any of these programs or committees, please complete this form or email Irene Cortez, SCCBA Diversity Coordinator at irenec@sccba.com or SCCBA Executive Director, Chris Burdick at chrisb@sccba.com.  For a menu list of the various diversity programs and other helpful diversity information, please scroll down this page to the list.

The SCCBA's first formal action to ensure diversity in the Association was in 1989.  The SCCBA was one of, if not the first, local bar association in the country to add positions to its Board for minority attorney representation.  This initiative was part of the goals of increasing minority participation in the bar and the profession by then SCCBA President, James Towery.  The membership of the SCCBA approved changes to the Association by-laws creating permanent trustee positions on the Board of Trustees for the presidents or their designees of all of the minority bar associations, including:  La Raza Lawyers of Santa Clara County; Santa Clara County Black Lawyers; Asian Pacific Attorneys of Silicon Valley; the SCCBA Barristers; and the SCCBA Women Lawyers' Committee.  In 1999,  the SCCBA Board approved an additional trustee position for the SCCBA Rainbow Committee (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered attorneys). Since 1989 many of the minority lawyers initially on the Board in their representative capacities were elected to the Board in subsequent years and are either elected or appointed to formal leadership positions in the SCCBA.