Council on Minorities and Women in the Law

Mission Statement

The Council on Minorities and Women in the Law encourages and facilitates the active and effective participation of women and minorities in the legal profession and promotes the professional development of minority and women attorneys.

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Hon. Thomas Tang Writing Competition

The CMWL established the Judge Thomas Tang Writing Competition to highlight the importance of a diverse legal profession. The competition is named after the late Honorable Thomas Tang, who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in recognition of and to honor his special achievements and interest in diversifying the legal profession.

*Closed until next year

Diversity Legal Writing Program

The Maricopa County Bar Foundation and the State Bar of Arizona Committee on Minorities and Women in the Law collaborate with various law firms throughout the Valley to promote the recruitment and retention of minority lawyers in Arizona through the Diversity Legal Writing Program ("Program"). Private law firms work with second-year minority law students from Arizona law schools during the spring semester to improve the students' writing skills and to expose students to real world clerking assignments in a private firm setting.

Law School Outreach

CMWL actively coordinates events with bar members and students at each of the Arizona law schools in order to encourage the advancement of minorities and women in the law through recruitment and hiring. Committee members provide information, advice, and contacts to law students about State Bar programs and CMWL specifically.

State Bar Annual Convention CLE Program

Each year, CMWL organizes a CLE program centered on minorities and women in the law at the State Bar's convention in June.

Past seminar topics include:

2021 - Implicit Bias in the Criminal Justice System
2020 - Election 2020 and Beyond
2019 - Offensive or Oversensitive? A Practical Discussion on Microaggressions in the Legal Profession.
2018 - Exploring Business Development Opportunities in Diverse Communities
2017 - Defining and Achieving Your Own Success