What are your proudest accomplishments in the area of diversity and inclusion in law?
Making the profession more welcoming to younger lawyers and law students is most gratifying. 2020 brought issues of racial justice to the forefront. However, as the statistics demonstrate, we are, as members of the legal sector, falling woefully short of true racial representation. As the ABA notes in its 2020 Model Diversity Survey (providing the U.S. as a representative example):“Diverse individuals’ representation in the U.S. population is not commensurate with their representation in the legal profession.” Moreover, anecdotal evidence repeatedly confirms that there is a general reluctance, and even fear, to engage with racial issues. For an international practice like ours, this is a troubling reality. The legitimacy of international arbitration requires that it reflect the international nature of our practice. In light of this troubling reality, Kabir Duggal is the co-founder on a new group called ”Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers”. The group – popularly known by the acronym REAL – is incorporated as a non-profit in New York. It aims to enhance access to the international arbitration and international law fields for everyone, regardless of race; to build awareness about the current lack of racial diversity; to create a platform for addressing systemic discrimination and implicit bias; and to create a safe space for underrepresented groups to discuss the challenges they face without inhibition. The group has a website available here: https://letsgetrealarbitration.org/
