LAWYERS FOR ONE AMERICA

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Dear Colleagues: It is with great pride that I present to you the Lawyers For One America Report to the President of the United States on the Status of People of Color and Pro Bono Services in the Legal Profession. This pride comes from what the team of LFOA collaborators across the nation has accomplished since President Clinton's Call To Action to the Legal Profession last July to diversify and increase access to legal services for people of color. It comes from meeting and sharing ideas with hundreds of committed and passionate legal practitioners who are dedicated to accomplishing that mission. And it comes from being part of the American legal profession, with its long tradition of service as the connecting link between society and the rule of law, of advocacy and the pursuit of justice, which are so important to making One America.

The title of this Report is Bar None. That is LFOA's hope going forward; that no one will be barred from participation in the profession, or from access to its services. The Report contains three sections: A description of The Collaboration, including the current status of diversity and access; Recommendations To the Legal Profession to improve our efforts; and Declarations of Action that detail the diversity and access programs and practices of the collaborators that impact people of color. The Report also includes a set of Model Programs and Practices, and an Index of Collaborators who supported and contributed to Lawyers For One America. In its entirety, the Report is intended to be used as a resource to start, examine, and amplify the efforts of practitioners across the profession.

It is important to note that the LFOA collaboration has been a wholly voluntary effort by all participants, and to thank all of those who gave their time, experience, energy, insight, financial support, and commitment to the effort. It is also important to note that all collaborators have not always agreed on LFOA's course of action. This Report represents the consensus of the collaboration; however, to honor the diversity of opinion and approach, readers will find the collaboration's many different voices throughout the Report, in speech excerpts and quotes, in the Recommendations that cover every segment of the profession, and especially in the Declarations of Action from over seventy bar associations, corporate counsel, government and judicial entities, law firms, law schools, and legal services/public interest organizations.

LFOA's charter will expire at the end of the year. But its work will continue through this Report, through the Recommendations and Declarations of Action, through its ongoing website, www.lfoa.org, and through new participants who join the effort to bar none from participating in the profession and accessing its services. We invite you to join the effort to make One America.

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