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Brooklyn Bar Association CLE focuses on eliminating bias through diversity

March 21, 2018 By Rob Abruzzese, Legal Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Jen Bryan, Member Services Director; and Gil Perez, attorney at law, professional engineer and a licensed master plumber. Eagle photos by Rob Abruzzese
Jen Bryan, Member Services Director; and Gil Perez, attorney at law, professional engineer and a licensed master plumber. Eagle photos by Rob Abruzzese
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The New York State Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Board instituted a new policy this year which requires attorneys to get a newly-created diversity CLE credit to remain active within the bar.

To fulfill this new requirement, the Brooklyn Bar Association (BBA) recently invited attorney Gil Perez for a two-hour lecture. “Actively Eliminating Bias through Diversity and Inclusion: What is the New OCA Direction and How to Apply it to My Practice?” was part of Tuesday night’s CLE in Brooklyn Heights.

“The CLE committee was looking for someone to present on this topic and we are thrilled to have Gil Perez to do this course because there is nobody finer,” said Steve Cohn, co-chair of the BBA’s CLE Committee. “Thank you for instilling diversity and sensitivity in our membership.”

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Perez explained that often similar CLEs only focus on what larger law firms can achieve so he wanted to focus the lecture on best practices for solo practitioners and small law firms.

“What can the BBA do to promote diversity and inclusion?” Perez asked. “Being aware of the issues would be the first step. Taking small steps is helpful.”

Perez went over things that he has seen firsthand that have been effective as well as programs and events, including “diversity training” courses that have fallen flat. He explained that attorneys from Brooklyn can also lean on the BBA itself when it has questions.

“The Brooklyn Bar Association has a longstanding commitment to diversity,” Perez said. “We have had female presidents, female officers and the BBA has promoted women in the bar since its existence. I participated in the BBA when I attended law school. I found it to be outstanding in encouraging minority law students. They had a number of programs and concepts that helped people who did not have a family legacy into the law get into the law.”

Today, BBA co-sponsors the Brooklyn Legal Pipeline, a program designed to help minority students apply to law school.

Among the relevant court cases that Perez discussed during the lecture was the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger, where the court upheld the affirmative action admissions policy of the University of Michigan Law School.

“The issues in Grutter did not stop my family in helping me get an education, but they are real and they stop people from getting admitted into some of the top schools,” Perez said. “Sadly, specialized testing makes some schools unapproachable to minority applicants. The test is beyond most minority academics ability and it’s beyond the academic skills they receive in the schools they attend.”

Perez is an attorney at law, a professional engineer and a licensed NYC master plumber. He often gives diversity talks to both attorneys and engineers. As an attorney in private practice, Perez does guardianships, receiverships and cases involving administrative law.

“Brooklyn is unique,” Perez said. “Right now Brooklyn is experiencing a tremendous resurgence and tremendous popularity and a lot of that has to do with its diversity. We were the waterfront that most of the ships landed on. Everybody came here and everybody made a contribution. Some of the greatest minds have come out Brooklyn public schools like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Barbara Boxer.”

 


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