One of the first goals of the Task Force on Diversity & Inclusion is to better educate members of the Bar on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession. To support their efforts, the Task Force will circulate a quarterly newsletter to all Rhode Island Bar members. The purpose of the newsletter is to bring attention to steps the Bar is taking to be more inclusive and to share relevant information about diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. We hope you enjoy this first edition - be on the lookout in April for the next Diversity & Inclusion newsletter! |
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The Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion would like to thank the members of the Bar who have taken the time to complete the Diversity & Inclusion survey that was released in the fall of 2020. We sincerely appreciate your participation and assistance. Your candid responses provided valuable information on the state of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession in Rhode Island. The Task Force hopes to use the knowledge gained from the survey to integrate diverse perspectives in Bar activities and educational programming and to encourage and cultivate social intercourse among all members of the Rhode Island Bar, elevate attorneys of diverse backgrounds to positions of leadership within the Association, and promote interest in the practice of law to diverse populations.
If you have not completed the survey, we welcome your participation! The Task Force plans to leave the survey open to allow anyone who still wishes to respond the chance to do so.
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For members interested in joining the newly initiated Task Force on Diversity & Inclusion, please contact Erin Cute at 401-421-5740 or ecute@ribar.com.
Thank you,
Linda Rekas Sloan
Chair, Task Force on Diversity & Inclusion
Richard P. D'Addario
President, Rhode Island Bar Association
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Rhode Island Bar Association Leaders |
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Linda Rekas Sloan, Esq.
Linda Rekas Sloan of West Greenwich is the first Asian-American woman nominated to serve on the Rhode Island Superior Court and will be taking the bench on February 1, 2021. A graduate of Providence College and Boston University School of Law with nearly 30 years of legal experience, Linda currently works full-time as Assistant Vice President and Counsel at Fidelity National Title Group and part-time as the sole member of Linda Rekas Sloan, LLC. She is a past president of the Rhode Island Bar Association and currently chairs the Bar Association’s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion.
To learn more about Attorney Sloan and what diversity and inclusion mean to her, click here to read a brief Q&A. |
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The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession in collaboration with the Minority Corporate Counsel Association released a groundbreaking report “You Can't Change What You Can't See: Interrupting Racial & Gender Bias in the Legal Profession” in 2018. The report reveals the various biases that women lawyers of color and white women lawyers experience in the profession, providing recommendations to legal employers for removing institutionalized and systemic barriers to women lawyers' success.
According to the report, about 25% of women but only 7% of white men and 11% of men of color, reported that they have encountered unwelcome sexual harassment at work, including unwanted sexual comments, physical contact, and/or romantic advances.
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The Rhode Island Bar Association recognizes that including perspectives on the law from instructors from a wide range of backgrounds presents a well-rounded educational experience for our members. We actively pursue diverse speakers for our continuing legal education programming, and we encourage recommendations from our members. Please help us build our diverse speaker database by contacting CLE Director Tanya Nieves at tnieves@ribar.com with your specialty or area of law you would be interested in presenting for future CLE seminars.
If you would like to submit an idea for an upcoming seminar or you would like to participate as an instructor for a future CLE program, please click here to fill out and submit a proposal form. The CLE office welcomes and encourages presenters of diverse backgrounds in regard to race, color, religion, country of ancestral origin, handicap, age, sex, or sexual orientation.
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Meet the Task Force Members |
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Kara DiPaola, Esq.
Attorney DiPaola is the Senior Legal Counsel in the Office of the General Treasurer of the State of Rhode Island. A Rhode Island native, she attended St. Mary Academy-Bay View and Salve Regina University. She graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 2013 and during her time there was awarded the Gold Public Service Award for 1000+ hours of public service. In her role at Treasury, she serves as the chairperson of the agency’s Equal Opportunity Advisory Committee and leads a team of Search Advocates who work to minimize the impact of bias in the hiring process. Recently, she was a coach for two middle school mock trial teams and volunteered as a poll worker in the 2020 presidential election.
To learn more about why Attorney DiPaola joined the Task Force on Diversity & Inclusion and what diversity and inclusion mean to her, click here to read a brief Q&A. |
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Closed Captions Now Available for Virtual CLE Seminars! |
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We are excited to announce that starting in January, the Rhode Island Bar Association contracted with Rev Live Captions to be able to offer live closed captions during all future virtual CLE seminars. This new feature helps make our CLE seminars more accessible and inclusive to all our members.
Rev Live Captions integrates seamlessly with the Zoom videoconferencing platform. The live captions are powered by the world’s best speech recognition A.I., generating accurate captions that enable our members who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or non-native English speakers to better understand the content of our seminars.
The next time you attend a CLE seminar, look for the CC button located in the toolbar at the bottom of your Zoom screen. Click the button to turn on closed captions to view the dialogue as subtitles. Please note, the feature is not automatic; if you would like to view the closed captions you must remember to click the CC button to turn on the feature.
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February RI Bar Association Government Lawyers Committee Meeting! |
The next Rhode Island Bar Association Government Lawyers Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 3rd at 12:30 p.m. via Zoom. Task Force member Kara DiPaola of the Office of the General Treasurer will present Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - Insights and Examples (Please note this is a regular meeting NOT a free CLE seminar.) 2020 has reminded many of us how important it is to have a diverse, anti-racist workplace that is equitable and inclusive. This presentation is a great opportunity to learn what steps one agency has taken to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion within their agency and in the services, they provide to the public. From changes in hiring practices and RFP requirements to implementation of efforts towards employee engagement and training, the Treasurer's Office has been working towards ensuring services to the public are easily accessible to all Rhode Islanders and that all staff are respected and valued. This "how-to" discussion will show that any agency or law firm can incorporate this work into their practice!
Please email Erin Cute at ecute@ribar.com if you would like to attend as a guest.
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Administrative Hearings RIBA Government Lawyers Committee Sponsored CLE Now Available On-Demand
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The Rhode Island Bar Association Government Lawyers Committee sponsored a virtual CLE presentation in November featuring State Administrator of Adjudication (DOA) Catherine Warren, Esq., who presented Administrative Hearings – Foundational Concepts and Virtual Practice. Attendees gained knowledge of foundational concepts such as the Administrative Procedures Act, due process, evidence, and procedure as applied to administrative hearings and practice. Building on that foundation, attendees discussed how these concepts translate to the virtual hearing context. A small segment was included to consider access to administrative hearings by persons with disabilities and non-English speakers.
The program is available for purchase in the Bar’s On Demand CLE catalog on ribar.com. To access the on demand catalog please click here.
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Rhode Island Women Lawyers: Past, Present, & Future |
Have you read the January/February issue of the Rhode Island Bar Journal? Be sure to check out the most recent edition of the Rhode Island Women Lawyers: Past, Present, & Future, featuring attorney Lynette J. Labinger on page 23. This series was inspired by Roger Williams University School of Law’s annual Women in Robes event, and was created in alliance with their exciting project The First Women, which recognizes and honors the first women of the Rhode Island bar.
To view the January/February issue click on the cover image to the left, or visit our website at ribar.com, sign in to the Members Only area using your Bar ID number and Password, and click on the Rhode Island Bar Journal Homepage.
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Recorded Events & CLE Programs |
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Racial Justice Teach-in Sessions: In solidarity with the Scholar Strike for Racial Justice and Teach-in on September 8 and 9, 2020, seven law schools organized and participated in the Law School Anti-Racist Coalition’s Teach-In. This virtual public teach-in covered such diverse topics as water rights in Indian Country, implementing anti-racist practices in legal education, and implicit bias in bankruptcy law. A number of the sessions were recorded and are available by clicking here.
To view the Rhode Island Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Fall Conference, White Fragility in the Workplace with Kiara Butler and Rachael Gavin, please click here.
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The RI Bar Association is committed to presenting a wide variety of CLE programming to meet the needs of our diverse membership. Below are a few programs that are available to view in our on-demand catalog as well as an upcoming live webinar scheduled for next week.
Upcoming Live Webinar:
I Think, Therefore I Am: How Implicit Biases Manifest in the Legal Profession
2:00 – 3:00 pm, 1.0 credit
Live Webinar Only
On-Demand Programs:
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