June 2008
A Commitment to Volunteerism — The Pierce County Minority Bar Association
by Tracy Flood
The Pierce County Minority Bar Association (PCMBA) was established in 1996 with the purpose of facilitating professional development and relationships among the various minority attorneys, judges, and law students who reside or practice in Pierce County. It also seeks to foster diversity in the legal community and serve as a conscience of Pierce County minority communities on legal issues affecting the community.
As PCMBA president since 2007, it has been both an honor and a pleasure to lead this group of dedicated individuals. The PCMBA recently sponsored the ninth annual Youth and Law Community Forum. The forum offered middle- and high-school students the chance to learn about the legal system. Students gathered at the Pierce County Courthouse, and questioned judges and lawyers about specific areas of law. The program involved a mock trial, with practicing lawyers, judges, and police officers role-playing in courtrooms. Later, students observed a K-9 demonstration.
We at the PCMBA are an active group. We have formed a Judicial Evaluations Committee, and we have deep ties to the community. We have joined forces with other county organizations to achieve a common goal of supporting diversity in the legal profession. For example, the PCMBA partners with the R. Merle Palmer Minority Scholarship Foundation, which was established by business leaders in Pierce County some years ago. The Foundation’s mission is to help financially disadvantaged minority students in Pierce County earn a post-high-school education by supplying financial, emotional, and spiritual support. The Foundation raises more than $250,000 annually from individuals, corporations, and foundations, including the Gates Washington State Achievers Scholarship Program (GWSAP) and the Willamette Program. GWSAP was established by Bill and Melinda Gates, who believe that meaningful access to higher education opens doors to opportunities, especially for low-income and minority students. GWSAP cites to a college board report that found that over 40 percent of children from high-income families attained a college or advanced degree after five years of high school matriculation, while only six percent within the lowest income group did the same. The Achievers Program is moving to address this disparity here in Washington state, working comprehensively with 16 high schools with low-income students. The program is designed to encourage high schools to raise academic achievement and increase college enrollment and completion rates for all students, but especially low-income students. The Whitworth “Act Six” Program is a hybrid urban leadership development and college access/retention program. Act Six recruits and selects a diverse, multicultural cadre of approximately 10 of Tacoma’s most promising urban student leaders. These student leaders then attend Whitworth College, in Spokane, for a fully funded four-year education program. The Palmer Foundation collaborates with the administration of Act Six in the selection process and partially funds three to five of the students selected.
The Pierce County Minority Bar Association also supports students interested in taking the LSAT exam. We held our first dinner fundraiser on March 14, 2008, at the Tacoma Landmark Convention Center to begin an LSAT study-scholarship, raising $3,000 for this new project. The dinner fundraiser was a successful partnership with the Palmer Minority Scholarship Foundation.
How and why have I been called to volunteerism? Without a doubt, my experience as a fellow with the WSBA Leadership Institute inspired me to leadership in the bar, to public service, and to volunteerism. The WSBA Leadership Institute was created as a tool to recruit, train, and retain young lawyers of traditionally under-represented groups for leadership positions. As a member of the inaugural class, the experience changed the course of my legal career. I was one of 12 eager new lawyers who shared eight months together for concentrated leadership study. Course study spanned both private- and public-sector law, and included support from government leaders such as Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna, who regularly presents at the Institute. It is because of the ground-breaking and sometimes backbreaking work of 2004–2005 WSBA President and Leadership Institute founder Ronald Ward, the commitment of 2003–2004 WSBA President and Leadership Advisory Board member David Savage, and the dedication of 2004–2006 WSBA Leadership Institute Chair James Williams, combined with all of the Leadership Institute advisors who rose to the challenge, that this innovative program was established to support diversity and to foster leadership in the profession. The WSBA, through such programs as the Leadership Institute, acknowledges the ongoing need to develop quality diverse leaders statewide. This nationally recognized program continues to inspire new leaders in the profession. In 2005, the American Bar Association honored the Leadership Institute with the ABA Partnership Award. The WSBA recently had published a featured article in the Bar Leaders Magazine, March/April 2008 edition, entitled “Voice of Experience: Bar Leadership Program Founder Shares Blueprint.”
While I continue to contribute to the WSBA Leadership Institute, I also volunteer elsewhere. Currently I am active with the Washington State Minority Bar Associations Collaboration Project (WAMBAC). This group of minority bar leaders across the state come together each year to organize the Annual Statewide Diversity Conference. This year marked its third year with the theme “Getting Ahead and Giving Back — Diversity in the Legal Community.” Michael Heath and Kim Tran co-chaired the conference. The event was a full-day CLE at Seattle University School of Law on May 30, 2008, with an opening reception co-hosted by Perkins Coie and Starbucks. The conference involved the participation of minority bar associations, including the following: Asian Bar Association of Washington; GLBT Bar Association (QLaw), Korean American Bar Association, Latina/Latino Bar Association of Washington, Loren Miller Bar Association, Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association of Seattle (MAMAS), Northwest Indian Bar Association, Pierce County Minority Bar Association, South Asian Bar Association, Vietnamese American Bar Association of Washington, and Washington Women Lawyers. I am active in the Washington Women Lawyers and served as past-president of the Kitsap County Washington Women Lawyers, served as chair of the WSBA Civil Rights Committee, and moderated the first Civil Rights Committee Conference: Opportunities, Next Steps, Civil Rights Issues Past, Present, and Future held on April 24, 2008, at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane.
There is much strength in coming together for the sole purpose of helping others. When I am sitting with young students, trying to inspire them to great heights, I speak from personal experience. When I lost my mother at age 19 to breast cancer, I raised my younger sister. I had to. I also had to grow up quickly. At times, it was a tremendous strain, but I never lost faith. With the help of my college mentor, I always believed in myself. For those in need in Pierce County and elsewhere, and for students in particular, I volunteer to lend a hand and to be a role model, because I know they can do it.
The Minority Bar Associations of Washington is hosting a picnic at Seward Park on June 28. We’d love to see you there, to share potato salad, BBQ, play some games, and make a friend or two. It will also be an excellent opportunity to network and connect for volunteer opportunities.
Tracy Flood is a Seattle University Law School graduate, is admitted in both state and federal district court, and is currently in solo practice in Port Orchard, focusing on domestic and criminal law. Attorney Wilberforce Agyekum and Assistant Attorney General Maureen Mannix edited this column.
