From its inception, the Pittsburgh Legal Diversity & Inclusion Coalition has seen its mission as just one part of a much larger effort to make both our city and our region a more welcoming, diverse and inclusive community — one that works not just for some, but for all. Now, the Coalition is called upon to be part of a broad community solution to a very different type of challenge, the one posed by COVID-19. Like our 33 member law departments and law firms, and other businesses and organizations, the Coalition is taking whatever actions are required to protect our community and its people. This includes postponing or cancelling the events we had planned for the next several weeks. We are particularly disappointed because, as you know, we were just on the cusp of launching Towards a Culture of Inclusion, a full year’s worth of programming that we strongly believed would help our members enhance the inclusiveness of their organizations and increase the retention of diverse lawyers. But tomorrow is another day and this too will end. When it does, we look forward to launching this and other exciting Coalition initiatives. Watch, too, for news soon of other options under consideration for continuing to bring value to our members throughout this difficult time. In the meantime, to borrow the words of Grant Oliphant in a recent blog post on the website of The Heinz Endowments, we will “[act] in the common good, [exercise] shared responsibility, [and remain] accountable not just to ourselves but to each other and to the society of which we are a part.” Thank you for your understanding and please stay safe.
Please note that the Allegheny County Bar Association has a dedicated page on its website containing resources, announcements, and other information relating to how the coronavirus is affecting the legal profession: www.ACBA.org/coronavirus