The Austin Bar Association will hold an Equity Summit from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 14, 2021, via Zoom. The event is free and open to the public.
The event will include a mindfulness exercise and panels on implicit bias, the roots of racism in Austin, the Tim Cole Act, how to reduce the justice gap through pro bono work, and how attorneys can leverage their power to create a more equitable community. A discussion on institutional racism embedded in the Austin Land Code will focusing on the lasting impacts and potential remedies will also be held.
Guest speakers include former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson; former Austin City Councilmember Ora Houston; community advocate and former Austin Independent School District trustee Paul Saldaña; Karen Kennard, a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig and former Austin city attorney; Innocence Project of Texas co-founder and Executive Director Mike Ware; Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas Executive Director Alisa De Luna; Manuel Quinto-Pozos, a partner in Deats, Durst & Owen; City of Austin Chief Equity Officer Brion Oaks; and American Gateways Assistant Executive Director Edna Young.
The summit is the culmination of nearly a year of work by the Austin Bar Equity Committee. The committee organized events over the course of the past year, held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including a 21-Day Racial Equity-Habit Building Challenge, a screening of “13th,” book club discussions on So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo and How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi, and other events.
To register for the event, go to austinbar.org.