From the time he began practicing law, Wade Hinton couldn’t help but notice Chattanooga’s legal community was not reflective of the community at large.
According to the most recent U.S. Census report, Chattanooga is a city with about 40% people of color and about half are women. But within the legal community, he says, minority representation is much lower — with Black lawyers comprising only about 2% of all attorneys.
Right now, Hinton says Chattanooga has only three Black partners and one Asian partner at firms with more than 10 attorneys. There are no judges of color in the state or in city courts. And there is one judge of color in the federal courts for this area.
“And these groups are trying to address that issue,” says Hinton, who helped found the Chattanooga Legal Diversity Consortium (CLDC) back in 2017.
The CLDC is made up of legal professionals focused on building diversity, equity and inclusion in the city. Each year, a new group of law students from minority backgrounds are invited to participate and experience on-the-job education, mentoring and networking opportunities.