Close the Divide: Dismantling Bias in the Legal World

1 CLE credit (equity, access to justice). Known accreditation in California (pending), Florida, Oregon, and Washington. Check your Bar website or our list: https://www.clecast.net/materials This CLE course addresses the impact of bias in the legal profession and provides actionable strategies to recognize and counteract biases. This program aims to raise awareness about how bias—whether explicit or implicit—can shape the decisions and interactions of legal professionals. Despite efforts to increase diversity, the legal profession continues to see underrepresentation of women and minorities, particularly in leadership roles. These disparities are linked to implicit biases that influence hiring, promotion, case management, and courtroom dynamics. Biases related to gender, race, ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic status, and religion manifest in the daily practices of law firms, affecting outcomes in both criminal and civil cases. The CLE emphasizes the ethical responsibility of legal professionals to recognize and combat these biases, which erode fairness and equity in the justice system. The CLE outlines practical strategies for addressing implicit bias within law firms and the legal profession as a whole. These include implementing blind hiring practices to remove personal identifiers during the recruitment process, using objective evaluation criteria for promotions and case management to prevent bias from influencing decisions, and development of firm-wide bias awareness programs, which promote ongoing education and self-reflection. Finally, the CLE emphasizes the importance of increasing diversity in decision-making roles to ensure that the legal profession better reflects the society it serves and upholds the principles of fairness and justice. This CLE will provide practical tools and insights for legal professionals to actively work toward reducing the impact of bias in their daily practice and contribute to a more just and inclusive legal system.