Every weekday morning, our mail delivery person brings to each attorney their morning mail.  For me, included in each delivery is a copy of that day’s The Legal Intelligencer.

When I received my copy on the morning of March 19, 2019, I thumbed through it as usual to catch up on the local legal news and events. I leafed by the usual banner advertisement from one of our local major personal injury firms advertising their latest accomplishments. I glanced at the “People in the News” to see people I know and recognize. Then I perused the articles. That Tuesday was a Fat Tuesday (no pun intended—for those of us who are Christians, Fat Tuesday is the day before the beginning of the 40 days in the wilderness—I change my mind, pun intended), because it contained one of The Legal’s special section inserts “Top Laterals/New Partners.” The cover of the thick special had a picture of almost two dozen smiling faces. None of them persons of color. It was the group who moved from one large firm to another. My hand paused, but I continued to turn the pages of the insert announcing laterals and new partners; page after page after page of smiling faces—more than 160 people. Almost no persons of color, let alone black.