Lloyd Freeman, partner and chief diversity officer at Archer & Greiner in Haddonfield/courtesy photo

Law firms across the region are observing Juneteenth this year, as state and city governments in New Jersey and beyond are officially recognizing it as an official holiday, closing offices and facilities on June 19.

Many law firms see observing Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, as an essential step toward meeting the intensified calls for change and racial justice that have been echoed across the country since the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, is an annual celebration commemorating June 19, 1865, the day many enslaved people in Texas learned they had been freed. Slavery was formally abolished after Congress ratified the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on Dec. 6, 1865.

Archer & Greiner, based in Haddonfield, is one of many firms leading this historic effort, announcing the firm will close its offices June 19 for a day of education—intended to be spent supporting one another, promoting equality and healing. "As our country continues to deal with social injustices and systemic racism 155 years later, this holiday carries even more significance," reads a statement posted on the firm's website.

This is the firm's first year of observance, and it plans to continue with an annual day of education and service, although the types of service were somewhat limited this year due to restrictions surrounding COVID-19.

"We framed it as a day of education, reading about social injustices in this country, learning about systemic racism, and race relations," said Lloyd Freeman, chief diversity officer and commercial litigation partner at Archer & Greiner.

"I had the experience of attending a HBCU [Historically Black College and University], Howard University, but many of my colleagues were not given this opportunity, so I wanted to make it a day of learning for the firm," Freeman added.

"Our diversity committee at Archer has been meeting continuously to talk about our plan of action in the wake of the death of George Floyd, and we acted quickly," said Freeman. The firm saw Nike and the National Football League make announcements about observing the holiday, and law firms often take their cues from corporations.

Freeman has compiled a list of resources, including organizations where one can donate, and access articles, podcasts, movies, and webinars as learning tools for firm employees, their families, and the community. Articles such as "How Organizations Can Support the Mental Health of Black Employees," published by the Harvard Business Review, and such movies as "Selma" and "13th" are on the list.

And Archer & Greiner had a two-day, firmwide mandatory diversity training earlier this year, which addressed unconscious bias, micro-aggression and emotional intelligence.

Freeman, the firm's first CDO, has spent 14 years at Archer & Greiner and is one of nine black attorneys out of 180 at the firm, he said.

"In hiring practices, there is no one right fit, the workplace culture should be diverse," said Freeman.

"When hiring, you should look at the candidate's individual experiences, which can be accomplished by a standardized interview process, focusing on a candidate's performance and involvement in law school, rather than comparing it to your own personal experiences," he explained.

Business litigator Reginald Streater joined Archer & Greiner through one of the firm's diversity programs in 2018. A goal of his is to make partner and join the firm's hiring committee.

"The significance of Juneteenth is substantially important to me because it is a reminder that while my enslaved African ancestors were at one point relegated to the dehumanizing atrocity known as chattel slavery in America, we, their descendants, have excelled in every facet of American society," said Streater, though he added that there are "constant reminders that in the 21st century, many continue to deem us unworthy and unequal."

Numerous other firms have announced that they will be observing Juneteenth by closing their offices. Among them, locally, is McCusker Anselmi Rosen Carvelli, based in Florham Park. Some of those firms intend to make Juneteenth a permanent holiday, suggesting a new industry standard in the making, even as deep racial imbalances persist in Big Law.

"I challenge other law firms to make this a holiday they recognize yearly," said Freeman. "I don't think American history can be told without talking about the contributions that African Americans made."

The number of minority lawyers working at Am Law 200 firms remains stubbornly low, increasing by just 3.9% over the last decade, according to The American Lawyer's 2020 Diversity Scorecard. And there is fear that the decisions law firms have taken to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic could reset some of that limited progress.

Robert Ransom, a member of the Archer & Greiner's diversity committee and an associate handling real estate and litigation, said, "The firm's observance of the Juneteenth holiday assures me that Archer is truly invested in its employees' understanding of the history and experience of black people in America."

Ransom hopes individuals can discover and address some of the "blind spots" from which implicit bias and related issues derive, he said.