Diversity in the Profession Task Force
The Diversity in the Profession Task Force's purpose is to advocate for Latinx representation in leadership positions at firms and corporations. It seeks to fulfill the MHBA’s mission to promote professional growth and opportunity for Latinx law students and attorneys. To aid in fulfilling this aspect of the MHBA mission, the 2015-2018 three-year strategic plan specifically tasked the task force to create a diversity report of the largest law firms in Minnesota. The Diversity Report Card project is being modeled after the Austin, Texas program initiated by the Hispanic Bar Association of Austin and subsequently supported by Austin’s other affinity bars. Austin’s Diversity Report Card project has achieved great success in increasing the number of Latinx and minority attorneys in Austin’s largest law firms. As an example of Austin’s success, when the first report card in 2000 was issued by the HBAA, there were only 53 surveyed diverse attorneys practicing in the top 14 largest firms in Austin. By 2015, the top 24 largest law firms had increased that number to 195.
Since 2016, the task force formed the Diversity Report Committee ("DRC") consisting of representatives from Minnesota’s affinity bars (MABL, MNAPABA, MLBA, MIABA, and MWL) to collect the data and publish the report. Currently the DRC has obtained corporate support from several Fortune 100 companies and is planning on publishing the report later this year at a press release event.
Hispanic National Bar Assocation 2020 Annual Convention Task Force
The HNBA 2020 Annual Convention Task Force was formed after the MHBA successfully placed a bid to host the HNBA 2020 Annual Convention in Minneapolis. The task force will explore ways for MHBA members to become involved with planning of the convention and seeks to maximize the benefits of hosting the convention locally for the MHBA.