November CBA Report

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ship to the extent that the first time my
wife and I had dinner out after having our
son Max, Peller’s daughter Kelly babysat
at the Peller’s home. Unfortunately, dinner
did not last long because my son was not
the easiest kid to babysit. Over the years I
must confess she never offered to babysit
again.
I experienced my first bar mitzvah
when the Peller’s son Artie became of age.
On occasion, out of deference to his age, I
would let Peller win when we would play
one on one basketball. He also walked me
through my first and last divorce case.
We each developed a friendship with one
another’s spouse and would go to dinner
with mutual friends. Peller and I both
married law school classmates and it was
pretty clear that we married up.
Despite our age, race and religious
differences, our partnership made me
realize that once you share experiences
with others, you truly understand that
in the end we are all concerned about
the welfare of our families, the health of
our practice and how we can contribute
to society. Peller and I were not afraid to
discuss real issues concerning race and we
acknowledged that issues existed. Some-
times an acknowledgement is all it takes
to start a real conversation about how to
address issues. Although I don’t see Peller
as much as I used to, we are still close and
can rely upon each other for any reason. In
April, he attended my swearing in as pres-
ident of the CBA.
Some of the other subjects in the
volumes of books I reviewed that
addressed a more diverse legal commu-
nity are still with us today. We still have
the Roundtable, the BLAC Banquet and a
legal community that lacks a lot of diver-
sity. One of the articles that struck me as
an affirmation of the struggle with diver-
sity from that timeframe was an article
announcing that Calvin Buford had been
made partner at Frost & Jacobs (now Frost
Brown Todd). I am fairly certain that white
people made partner at Frost and other
firms in the city at that time, but they did
not get quarter page announcements. The
appointment of Buford got press because
he was one of the few black partners at
a majority firm at that time. The article
never mentioned that was the reason for
the announcement of the achievement.
We all have to be comfortable saying
what needs to be said and acknowledging
racial issues to keep moving forward in
fostering a diverse profession. I have been
in too many meetings where people are
not comfortable saying what is really on
their minds regarding diversity. Please
don’t do that. Share your thoughts so we
can all move forward together.
In book volumes 1992-1994, Hawkins
did a really good job of trying to grapple
with race and the profession by expressing
his views at the time and his future hopes
on the issue of diversity. The Diversity and
Inclusion Committee of the CBA is in the
process of revising the Lawyer to Lawyer
program and lucky for us, Hawkins has
agreed to continue on his quest for a more
inclusive legal profession by agreeing to
co-chair the program with the Hon. Karen
Litkovitz.
Please consider participating in this
program and stay tuned for more details.
Williams is the 2017-2018 president of the CBA.
November 2017 CBA REPORT l 5
President’s Brief