New Task Force Aims to Increase Latinx Representation in Legal Profession

The Hispanic National Bar Association this week announced the launch of the first-of-its-kind National Task Force on Hispanic Law Faculty and Deans.

The task force, which will operate as a presidential special committee, will aim at addressing the lack of Hispanic/Latino representation among U.S. law school professors and administrators as well as the shortage of professional development resources specifically for Hispanic/Latino professors, deans and other administrators, according to HNBA’s announcement.

HNBA President Mariana Bravo appointed Raquel M. Matas, lecturer in law and former associate dean for administration at the University of Miami School of Law, and Anthony E. Varona, dean and professor of law at Seattle University School of Law, to serve as co-chairs of the task force, according to HNBA’s announcement.

“During my long career in legal academic administration, I have been involved in the Hispanic National Bar Association and have held national leadership roles, including National Law School Liaison,” Matas told Law.com in an email Thursday. “I have witnessed up close the dearth of Latino/a lawyers in the legal professoriate and decanal ranks, and the lack of understanding and awareness, by Latino/a lawyers, of what is involved in and required to enter the legal academy as a career path.”

“This initiative, long overdue, will work to change that,” she added.

Varona is the first law school dean of Latinx heritage of any law school in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and he also was the first Latinx dean at University of Miami Law, he told Law.com on Wednesday.

There are only 10 law deans who identify as Latino/Hispanic serving at American Bar Association-accredited schools in the United States, he said.

Of the 10 law deans, Leticia M. Diaz, dean of the Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law in Miami, is the longest serving Latinx dean and third longest serving of current deans with 16.3 years in the position, according to Rosenblatt’s Deans Database (RDD).

“A number of us Latinx deans have been bemoaning for the last several years about the shortage of Latinx law professors and deans,” Varona said, adding that Latinos/Hispanics make up nearly 20% of the general population but only approximately 5% of law deans.

The percentage of Hispanic lawyers nationwide rose from 3.5% in 2012 to 5.8% in 2022, according to the ABA Profile of the Legal Profession 2022. “Still, Hispanics are underrepresented among lawyers compared with their share of the U.S. population (18.5%).”

According to the 2023 National Association for Law Placement (NALP) Report on Diversity, in 2022 2.98% of law partners identified as Latinx and 6.5% of law associations identifying as Latinx.

In 2021, 13.2% of law students identified as Hispanic, according to the ABA Profile of the Legal Profession 2022.

There are too few Latinx law students, which Varona attributed to the lack of role models in academia, adding that he met his first lawyer during the first day of classes.

Varona, who was born in Cuba and grew up in Northern New Jersey, said as a young child he acted as translator for his family and, while translating during visits to various government offices, saw how the immigrant community and community of color was mistreated by the system, which influenced his decision to go to law school.

Eduardo Peñalver, president of Seattle University, was the first Latino dean of any of the five Ivy League law schools when he served as dean of Cornell Law School from July 1, 2014, to Jan. 1, 2021, according to the school and RDD.

“When I was a law student at Yale, there were no Hispanic faculty there,” Peñalver told Law.com in an email Wednesday. “And on almost every faculty I served as a faculty member, I was the only Latino.

“A diverse faculty is crucial to the success of a diverse student body and to expanding the range of perspectives and experiences that inform and enrich legal education,” he continued. “By helping to cultivate and support Hispanic faculty and senior leaders in our law schools, the HNBA’s new Task Force will help ensure that the next generation of lawyers is well-equipped to serve the needs of an increasingly diverse society,”

“I applaud the HNBA and Seattle University Law School Dean Tony Varona’s initiative and vision for this Task Force,” Peñalver said. “Tony’s lived experience as a veteran Latino law professor and celebrated leader in legal education will help ensure that the Task Force achieves lasting and impactful change.”

“An increase in the number of Hispanic/Latino law professors and law school deans will translate into an increase in law school enrollment by Hispanic and Latino/a students inspired by educators who hail from their same communities, share their backgrounds and struggles, and in many cases, share a bilingual heritage,” HNBA President Mariana Bravo said in a statement. “I am delighted that former Associate Dean Matas and Dean Varona, with many decades of distinguished nationally recognized service in legal education between them, will lead us in this important work.”

Varona said that the task force, since it has been formed has “already started receiving inquiries from practicing lawyers looking to make the move into the legal academy, so we have started connecting them to network sources and mentors.”

This type of networking will be ongoing along with a number of other initiatives, he said.

At the annual HNBA conference, there will be “how to become a law professor” workshops for lawyers looking to get into academia, Varona said.

The task force will oversee the development of annual summer nationwide online workshops for prospective and existing Hispanic/Latino law faculty and law school deanship aspirants, through programs such as the Michael Olivas Summer Writing Institute and the GO LILA summer workshops, collaboration with other established workshops and by organizing new initiatives to increase Hispanic and Latino/a diversity in the legal academy, according to Varona and NHBA’s announcement.

Additionally, the task force will promote better data tracking by national accreditation and membership associations, according to the announcement.

“A lot of positions of high responsibility in government are fed by law school professors and deans, who are appointed to these roles, but there are not many, if any, Latinos and Latinas to pick from,” Varona said. “This is a very big problem, not just for law but for democracy itself.”

Task force members under Matas’ and Varona’s leadership include:

• Dolores S. Atencio, visiting scholar, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
• Steven Bender, professor and associate dean for Planning & Strategic Initiatives, Seattle University School of Law
• Kevin R. Johnson, dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law & Professor of Chicana/o Studies, UC Davis School of Law
• José Roberto (Beto) Juárez, Jr., dean and professor, Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law
• Jenny Martinez, dean and Lang Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
• Margaret Montoya, professor emerita of law (and medicine), University of New Mexico School of Law
• Jennifer Rosato Perea, dean and professor of law, DePaul U. College of Law
• Hon. Jenny Rivera, associate judge, New York Court of Appeals
• Ediberto Román, professor of law, Florida International University College of Law
• Krista Contino Saumby, associate director of career development, Elon University School of Law
• Paulina Vera, professorial lecturer in law, George Washington University Law School