Ethics Forum: Questions and Answers on Professional Responsibility

It is the present generation's role now to ensure that the changes that pioneer Black and Hispanic attorneys made in the past remain.

As a young attorney who practices in Philadelphia, I am very curious about how members of the Black bar were able to break the old-fashioned prejudice that used to exist years ago among the white lawyers who practiced in Philadelphia? The last 60 years or so have seen major changes in the practice of law including major changes in the diversity of lawyers.

When this writer began practicing law in the early 1970s, the bar was still fairly much an all-white male bar. There were very few Black and Hispanic attorneys, and female attorneys were still few and far between. There were several persons who made major differences. The first was Raymond Pace Alexander. Alexander became the first Black Pennsylvania Common Pleas Court judge. He passed away in 1974. He almost single-handedly broke the color line. Before, he rented an office in the 1930s in the PSFS Building at 12th and Market Street. No Black attorney or Hispanic attorney was allowed to have an office in Center City. It was an unwritten rule. He initially broke that color line. It was then followed up by attorney Richard Moore's father who then opened an office in the 1960s around 17th and Pine Street. Alexander and his brilliant wife (who had a law degree and a Ph.D. in economics from the Wharton School) helped many young attorneys, gave them hope and employment. This writer was fortunate enough to briefly get to know them in the 1970s.