Prominent Law School Dean Speaks on the Value of "Organic Diversity" by Dean John J. Farmer Jr.

Diversity in the legal profession has proven an elusive goal. One of the main difficulties it seems, especially among law firms, has been to view diversity as something of a “necessary evil.” Through this prism, the process of attracting and retaining individuals of diverse backgrounds becomes an artificial exercise that firms tolerate rather than embrace and, as a result, fail to achieve diversity in any enduring way. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

In my career, I have found that genuine diversity is organic. While diversity that is contrived is a distraction at best, organic diversity has the capacity to transform your firm’s culture. And firms that achieve organic diversity will find that it is self-sustaining. When done right, diversity is just “there.” It becomes embedded in every aspect of your operation and grows along with the rest of it. Your professionals are freed up to focus on the work at hand, instead of repeatedly expending resources trying create or hold onto a diverse workforce that does not feel it belongs.

When I arrived at Rutgers School of Law, I found an organization that, for decades, had been at the forefront of valuing and incorporating diversity on many levels — racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, intellectual, and other. The unrest in the summer of 1967 prompted many businesses to flee Newark, but Rutgers not only remained, it reinvested in the city. Rutgers began pioneering free legal clinics, bringing our students into meaningful contact with residents who needed their talents. Now, more than 40 years later, our clinics and clinicians are regularly recognized as among the nation’s finest.

The school also launched its Minority Student Program (“MSP”), which to this day helps to prepare and support students from backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in higher education. Many students arrive at Rutgers from broken homes, from extreme poverty, or from other circumstances that have left them disadvantaged compared with students from stable home environment who attended affluent colleges. Students who join the MSP are given a summer crash course in what to expect in law school, on how to study, on what exams will look like, and so on. They emerge with lifelong connections with one another. It is an attempt to level the playing field, and the record of MSP alumni — including judges, entrepreneurs, law partners, and a U.S. Senator, among others — speaks for itself.

For the purposes of the MSP, the definition of who constitutes a minority has expanded over the years. Definitions tend to constrain, focusing as they do on outside appearances. True diversity connotes a variety of backgrounds, orientations, and political affiliations. When they occupy the same room together, it creates electricity. For example, at Rutgers, we have a thriving Federalist Society chapter that holds public debates and showcases conservative speakers. It is invigorating, civil, and reflective of the kind of diversity we have attained. There is a wisdom that emerges from this collision of perspectives.

Rutgers has succeeded in reaching something like real diversity; it is simply the way we do things now. I firmly believe that more schools would be encouraged to make diversity organic if national recognition and attention were brought to the issue, and I can think of no better way than to make diversity a component of the influential US News & World Report rankings of law schools. Without at least some acknowledgement in the rankings, it is perhaps no surprise that this profession still maintains such an obvious blind spot. Those of us who are drawn to careers in law are by nature highly competitive, and if no one marks our achievements, we are less likely to see them as such.

The rankings should not reward the advancement of a culture of diversity simply because it reflects a more open-minded way of thinking, although that is also true. Rather, in my experience, diversity is absolutely essential to a high-functioning and healthy organization, and institutions overlook it at their peril. The starkest recent example of this danger was the FBI’s paucity of Arabic speakers on 9/11. Society pays a price when we become isolated from communities we ought to be serving. And the legal profession suffers when it neglects the value of bringing varying viewpoints to bear.

Anyone who dismisses diversity as a tradeoff for excellence misses the point. A genuinely diverse group will make wiser decisions than one beset by uniformity of opinions and knowledge. Once you accept that view of diversity as an element that meshes with every aspect of your operation, then you can begin to see it not as a necessary evil, as many law firms do. If you rethink diversity, if you reach the point where it is simply “there,” the results can be astounding. I remain optimistic. If organic diversity can rise from the ashes of riots in Newark, it can be done anywhere.

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Dean John J. Farmer Jr. has served as dean of Rutgers School of Law-Newark since July 2009. He previously served as senior counsel and team leader for the 9/11 Commission, having led New Jersey’s state law enforcement and victim/witness response to the terror attacks while New Jersey Attorney General (1999-2002).

Dean Farmer has also held a variety of private and public positions, including New Jersey Attorney General, Chief Counsel to Governor Christine Todd Whitman, and Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He began his career as a clerk to Associate Justice Alan B. Handler of the New Jersey Supreme Court before joining Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti LLP as a litigation associate. In 2007, he became a founding partner of Arseneault, Whipple, Farmer, Fassett and Azzarello, LLP.

Dean Farmer received his J.D. and B.A. from Georgetown University. He is a frequent contributor to the Star-Ledger and the New York Times, and lectures regularly on post-9/11 safety and security issues.