Panel continues quest to increase minority representation.

The best firms cherry-pick the top 10 percent of minority law students whose careers are set to soar. But what can The Florida Bar do to help increase the chances that the other minority law school graduates find success, too?

That question was raised by Bar President Edith Osman when the Bar Programs and Diversity Subcommittee brainstormed in Tallahassee recently. The subcommittee is part of the Legal Education Advisory Council called to action in September by Board of Regents Chancellor Adam Herbert to increase minority representation in the Bar.

As Jesse Diner, a member of the subcommittee and the Board of Governors, put it: "It doesn't do you much good to get a law degree, if you can't get into the system.... I'm concerned about people who come out of law school $100,000 in debt, and they can't get a job."

Ideas discussed included lobbying against a proposal to raise the passing standard of the bar exam (an issue now pending before the Florida Supreme Court), offering lawyers CLE credits who provide civil law clerkships in their firms, teaching minority lawyers how to generate business so they may rise to partner, providing free classes on passing the LSAT and bar exam, and fostering greater minority representation on the Board of Governors.

"I'd love to be the president to start something that would be helpful," Osman told the subcommittee of her commitment to increase women and minority participation in the Bar.

"There is more open-mindedness than I've ever seen," Osman assured Bishop Holifield, in response to the Florida A&M University general counsel's recounting the history of how FAMU lost its law school to Florida State University.

Holifield said he wants the issue of a new law school at FAMU to remain in the long-range strategic plan. And he reminded the council members that only 2 percent of Florida Bar's 65,521 members are African-Americans, yet African-Americans make up 15 percent of the state's population. Even if 100 African-American lawyers were added to the pool each year, Holifield said, it Would take 96 years to truly reflect the face of Florida in the legal profession.

"To get from 2 percent to 15 percent requires more than a program," Holifield said. "It requires institutions addressing the shortfall. While The Florida Bar could think in terms of programs and scholarship programs, I don't think that would get us from 2 percent to 15 percent."

Osman responded that she understood that Holifield was disappointed when...