The News: The State Bar of Wisconsin has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit and remove harmful and discriminatory “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” or DEI, from its programs. The Bar also agreed to change its definition of diversity and will no longer consider race, religion, sex, or other characteristics. Racially divisive DEI has been effectively removed from all Bar programming by this final settlement.
The Quotes: WILL Deputy Counsel, Dan Lennington, stated, “For now, DEI is dead at the State Bar of Wisconsin. Race discrimination should play no role in the regulation or training of Wisconsin’s lawyers, and it no longer does. We will continue to monitor the Bar closely and challenge race-based programs wherever we find them.”
Background: In December of 2023, WILL filed a lawsuit against the Bar for promoting discriminatory DEI practices including its “Diversity Clerkship Program,” which offered internship opportunities based primarily on race.
WILL represented Daniel Suhr, an accomplished trial and appellate attorney in Wisconsin. He objected to his mandatory bar dues being used for race-based programming and other objectionable practices by the Bar.
In April 2024, the Bar partially settled the case with WILL, agreeing to change its definition of “diversity” to remove race and other immutable categories. The Bar also agreed that all students are eligible to participate in its “Diversity Clerkship Program” regardless of race.
The recent settlement finally resolves the entire lawsuit. The Bar agreed as follows:
The Bar will not alter its definition of “diversity” to include “any consideration of race, ethnicity, color or national origin.” The Bar will remove discriminatory DEI language from its Leadership Development Summit. The Bar will remove discriminatory DEI language from its Leadership Academy program. The Bar will not consider race, ethnicity, or other immutable characteristics when considering applicants for the Leadership Development Summit or Leadership Academy. The Bar will be more transparent on how it spends mandatory dues, publishing an annual chart or chargeable activities.
The Bar’s Fixation on Race Discovered During the Lawsuit: During the course of the litigation, WILL attorneys discovered the true extent of the Bar’s fixation on race, sex, and sexuality, finding substantial evidence that Bar employees, officers, and attorneys who nominated others to Bar programs were using these traits against applicants.
- In 2021, a high-ranking Bar officer wrote as follows to the Chair of the Bar’s Leadership Development Committee: “Since many of these participants become the next generation of bar leaders, both programs focus on ethnic diversity, gender diversity, regional diversity[,] and practice setting diversity when selecting applicants and work to achieve a wide variety of representation.”
- Nominators were encouraged to submit candidates for the Summit who were not white. In one email from 2024, the Bar told nominators: “We are committed to diversity … and encourage you to nominate diverse candidates with … ethnic [and] gender … diversity.”
- Below are just a few examples of how Bar leaders described applicants for the Bar’s Leadership Summit. Some of these comments were written by a former Bar President, a former Chair of the Bar’s Board of Governors, and a Liaison to the Bar’s Board of Governors.
Quotes from Bar Leaders About Applicants
I don’t really know [the nominee]’s background except he appears to be a white man from northern Wisconsin who plays some sort of large instrument. However, he is very different from what you might expect because he is very open, engaging, and comfortable with all races, backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds.
*** is a Milwaukee-native who identifies as a Black woman. I am most impressed with all of her pro bono work in law school, as well as her opportunities to work with community organizations like Near Westside Partners and the Milwaukee Bucks.
*** is an African American woman. She has an active practice in family law and elder law and has shown her ability to work with people from many different backgrounds, ages and abilities.
*** is an extremely hard worker and follows through on her commitments. I believe that she would benefit from participating in the Summit and would be an excellent future leader.
*** has Asian heritage and is unique in that he lives with his family in Milwaukee, but works out of WisDOT’s Madison office. He balances that very well.*** is a Wisconsin-born and raised, female, and is the lovely spouse to a Paraguay native.
** is a young female attorney ….
*** … is a woman
.As a female attorney specializing in areas of law traditionally dominated by males
….What makes her unique is that she has a leadership position as a young woman ….
- Even when a Bar leader’s essay nominating an attorney for the Leadership Summit did not overtly mention race or sex, a chart compiled by the Bar included a column clearly identifying many nominees’ “ethnicity/gender/age.”
- The Bar was also not satisfied with some nominee’s reported ethnicity. One nominee was described by her nominator as a “Jewish woman.” The Bar changed that, labeling her as “White” and “female.” Another nominator labeled a nominee was “black,” and the Bar responded as follows: “Indian (nominator put Black; SBW record says Indian).” In yet another oddity, a nominator wrote merely that a nominee had “Asian heritage,” which somehow became “Asian/White” in one of the Bar’s spreadsheets.
- Based on documents from the Bar’s 2024 Leadership Summit, every single nominee who was not selected was Asian or white, except for one black man who physically could not attend the Summit.
- As far as the Leadership Academy (which did not use a nomination process), applicants themselves were encouraged to tout their “diversity” in applications. These were just some of the responses:
Quotes from Applicants
I am white, straight(-ish), female and female-presenting, and Jewish.
I am half Korean and half Caucasian.
Although I am a 49-year-old white, Christian, heterosexual, married father of three … if selected … I believe I would, nevertheless, provide a unique prospective.
I am lucky that as a white male … I have not had to face as much difficulties in life as others.[A]s an African-American woman my presence alone shines as a beacon for diverse perceptions within the legal field.
I am an African American woman ….As an African-American male, I am one individual within a group that represents 5% of the overall legal profession.
I will bring my perspective as a first-generation immigrant and woman of color.I am a Black, highly-educated attorney.
I am a black man from Milwaukee.
[B]eing a Black attorney ….I was the only Ashkenazi Jew to be found for miles.
I am one of a handful of Hmong female attorneys ….I am a Hispanic-American as well, so I should add to the diverse perspective of the academy.
As a Puerto Rican who recently migrated to Wisconsin ….I feel I can provide a unique perspective because of my race …. African American women make up a very small number of licensed attorneys and I am honored to now be among that small, and growing, number.
As a person of color I can speak to the experiences of being a minority ….I believe I can bring a different perspective … as a first generation Latino ….As the son of a Lebanese immigrant ….I wanted to understand why my birth country, the Philippines, was so poor ….Furthermore, as a junior female litigator, I represent a historically under-represented perspective within the legal community.
While I myself am a cis-gender white woman who does not practice a particular religion, my family situation is unique.I believe I bring a unique perspective … both because of my gender and my multistate experience.
My mother is from Jamaica and my father is from England.
I am the third generation of my family to become a lawyer, but I am the first woman.
- When the Bar could not figure out the race of an applicant, it admitted in documents that it made “visual guesses” about multiple applicants’ “ethnicity,” labeling three as black because Bar employees determined that they looked black.
These are just a few examples of the race- and sex-based discrimination uncovered during this litigation. The Bar has used race in supporting or advancing other programs in the past, including a mentoring program, a “Diversity Counsel Program,” a “Litigation Section Diversity Scholarship,” a “DEI Hackathon,” a “Center for Black Excellence and Culture,” and a “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan Committee.” WILL appreciates the Bar’s commitment to never to use race or sex as a factor in decision making but will closely monitor the Bar’s compliance with the settlement and seriously consider bringing new lawsuits if the Bar uses race, sex, or other illegal characteristics in any manner for any reason in any program.
In addition to these issues with discrimination, WILL continues to oppose mandatory bar memberships because they violate the First Amendment’s freedom of association. Several cases remain pending around the country that would dismantle compulsory membership in state bars.
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