WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2020 — The American Bar Association announced today that it has signed the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion Pledge, joining more than 1,000 U.S. companies across many industries that have agreed to implement four commitments that seek to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. The ABA is the first bar association to sign the pledge.
“One of the ABA’s four core goals — Goal III — speaks to our longstanding commitment to eliminate bias and enhance diversity, equity and inclusion within our Association, and throughout the legal profession and the justice system,” ABA Executive Director Jack Rives said. “Our decision to sign the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion Pledge reinforces that commitment. We are proud to be the first bar association to sign the pledge, and we hope others, including legal employers, take notice and join us.”
The pledge outlines four specific commitments:
1. We will continue to make our workplaces trusting places to have complex, and sometimes difficult, conversations about diversity and inclusion.
2. We will implement and expand unconscious bias education.
3. We will share best — and unsuccessful — practices. Each company has established programs and initiatives around diversity and inclusion.
4. We will create and share strategic inclusion and diversity plans with our board of directors.
The CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion was collectively formed in June 2017 and is led by a steering committee of CEOs and leaders from Accenture, BCG, Deloitte U.S., The Executive Leadership Council, EY, General Atlantic, KPMG, New York Life, P&G and PwC. Tim Ryan, U.S. chairman and senior partner at PwC, serves as chair of the CEO Action steering committee.
The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. View our privacy statement online. Follow the latest ABA news at www.americanbar.org/news and on Twitter @ABANews.