The Florida Bar on Friday eliminated its internal “diversity and inclusion” policy amid ongoing pressure from the state’s high court to curtail attorney diversity efforts focused on race and gender.
The removal is the latest in a string of DEI rollbacks initiated by the Supreme Court of Florida, including ordering the state bar to stop funding diversity programs and eliminating diversity training from eligible continuing legal education topics for attorneys.
The Florida Bar’s board of governors voted to replace the policy that states the organization is “fully committed to the enhancement of diversity and inclusion” in the legal profession, legal education and the justice system, and “affirms its commitment toward a diverse and inclusive environment.”
The newly adopted “Improvement of the Quality of Legal Services” does not specifically mention diversity and inclusion. It states that the Florida Bar is “fully committed to the improvement of legal services” and affirms a “commitment to an environment that fosters equal access and opportunity for all.”
Board policies guide the operations of the Florida Bar and are not rules governing its 113,000 bar members. A Florida Bar spokesperson did not immediately provide comment on the decision Friday.
The elimination of the Florida Bar's pledge to enhance diversity is "a grave concern," said Dwayne Robinson, president of the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. Bar Association, which represents Black lawyers in Miami.
"A less diverse legal profession hinders access to justice," Robinson said, adding that the bar's policy change could result in a less diverse judiciary.
Lawyer diversity programs have come under increasing fire since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 ruled that colleges and universities may not consider race in admissions. Conservative legal groups have sued bar associations, law firms, and companies over programs they claim involve illegal racial preferences.
The American Bar Association’s legal education arm in August proposed removing the terms “race and ethnicity” from its law school diversity standard to comply with the Supreme Court ruling before reversing course amid wide scale opposition.
The Florida Bar and the state supreme court have been at odds over diversity and inclusion efforts since at least 2021, when the court blocked a policy adopted by the bar’s business section requiring continuing legal education programs with three or more presenters to include at least one speaker from an underrepresented demographic.
The supreme court said the Florida Bar must treat all members impartially and without bias when it ordered the group to stop funding diversity initiatives in January. The Florida Bar subsequently disbanded its diversity and inclusion committee.
In February, the court removed “bias elimination” from the list of ethics topics for which Florida lawyers may receive continuing legal education credit. In 2023 it blocked judges from receiving such credit for courses on "fairness and diversity." All seven of the Florida justices were appointed by Republican governors.
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Florida Bar poised to axe 'diversity and inclusion' policy
Lawyer diversity effort gets cold shoulder from Florida Supreme Court
