The ABA Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council has announced a request for proposals and date for its first ever Equity Summit to be held virtually.
The Equity Summit: Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession and Beyond will be a virtual conference held from September 27 – 30, 2021. It will feature an array of CLE, workshop, keynote, and networking programs. Goals of the Equity Summit are listed on the ABA website, including:
The ABA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Summit will ensure greater visibility of DEI issues in the legal profession (and beyond) and elevate the collaborative work and profile of the ABA.
The Summit’s CLEs, Workshops, Keynotes, and Networking programming will provide opportunities for greater collaboration and to elevate existing work and innovative work on DEI efforts with legal professionals.
Call for Proposals: Due April 8
The ABA D&I Advisory Council’s Equity Summit Planning Committee is seeking program proposals featuring proficient speakers and cutting-edge topics related to DEI in the legal profession, as well as the profession’s role in advancing DEI to support equity within the legal system.
Submissions: Prospective speakers and panelists are invited to submit a program and speaker proposal to be considered for either a breakout session, workshop, TED Talk format, or CLE presentation. Summit proposals should reflect an acknowledgment of the virtual format and creative, interactive ways to engage a virtual audience. CLE sessions are required to be 60 minutes long (inclusive of approx. 15 minutes of Q&A); workshops will be 45 minutes long. TED Talk-style presentations will be 5-10 minutes maximum.
Audience: Conference attendees are, for the most part, professionals who are staff or volunteers of lawyer assistance programs, lawyers, clinicians, judges, law school deans or professional services administrators, law students, advocacy program representatives, community groups engaging with equity issues and the law, national, state, local, and affinity bar associations, and representatives of legal employers.
Topics: Conference participants are interested in a wide range of topics including diversity and inclusion initiatives in workplaces, the impact of the pandemic and economic recession on lawyers from diverse backgrounds and on the legal profession generally, professional responsibility and diversity and inclusion (ABA Model Rule 8.4(g)), community lawyering, equity in the legal profession, and the role the legal profession can play emphasizing the importance of DEI among the public, and related topics.
Submissions are open to anyone with relevant skill, background, knowledge, and expertise. Preference will be given to those presentations that expand the substantive, as well as practical knowledge base of Conference attendees. Panels comprising diverse membership, as well as those relevant to underrepresented groups in the legal community, are strongly encouraged. To make proposals compelling, make it clear what problems your session will address, what the tangible learning objectives will be, and any practical takeaways.
Find the RFP form and detailed instructions and guidelines here on the ABA website.
