Black lawyers: what say you about treatment of you in LA? (Los Angeles: homes, neighborhoods)
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Black lawyers: what say you about treatment of you in LA?
I'm curious to know the candid thoughts of black lawyers in LA. How are you treated by judges, fellow lawyers, clients? How prevalent is bias or racism towards you on any level as compared with other places you've been? How is the culture in law firms? Frivilous and exclusionary? Or respectful and open? Do you feel isolated and left out? Or included and respected as a person? In the job hunt, how are you perceived? Any areas of the city preferable than others?
Curious to get your insights. I have a cousin who graduated from Columbia law some years back, worked for a NY firm before moving to LA to meet up with her fiance. She hated the LA law firm she worked at, but wasn't too revealing about the reasons why. Said there weren't enough black people and the culture of the firms was not to her liking. Liked NY better. Lives in Atlanta now.
LA is not the best place fpr Blacks these days, period. Unless you are comfortable being in the minority, you would need to live in a Black nieghborhood, (LA has quite a few nice ones) and work for a Black company (extremely few of those).
Blacks in LA have two problems: 1) Blacks are leaving LA in droves. 2) Blacks in LA have very little sense of community or unity. You have to go specifically to the Blacjk area and work with the "faithful few".
In LA, being a professional Black person offers you no status except at work.
on the flip side, LA is very multicultural and doesnt suffer from major racial issues when it comes to hiring and such. two things matter here as far as those types of jobs are concerned: prior performance and who you know.
as far as where to live, my grandparents neighborhood in lakewood is about 33% asian(mainly korean or pacific islander), 33% white, 33% black. its a middle/uppermiddle class white collar neighborhood(lakewood is known as more of a blue collar city, but there are areas like the lakewood country club and directly east of lakewood mall with more expensive homes and more white collar folks, very diverse). if you want to live in a predominantly black neighborhood with similar professionals, i cant help you, but if you want a cultural melting pot those exist all over the LA basin
LA is not the best place fpr Blacks these days, period. Unless you are comfortable being in the minority, you would need to live in a Black nieghborhood, (LA has quite a few nice ones) and work for a Black company (extremely few of those).
Blacks in LA have two problems: 1) Blacks are leaving LA in droves. 2) Blacks in LA have very little sense of community or unity. You have to go specifically to the Blacjk area and work with the "faithful few".
In LA, being a professional Black person offers you no status except at work.
Who are the "faithful few"? Are those the people who are "keeping it real"?
LA is not the best place fpr Blacks these days, period. Unless you are comfortable being in the minority, you would need to live in a Black nieghborhood, (LA has quite a few nice ones) and work for a Black company (extremely few of those).
Blacks in LA have two problems: 1) Blacks are leaving LA in droves. 2) Blacks in LA have very little sense of community or unity. You have to go specifically to the Blacjk area and work with the "faithful few".
In LA, being a professional Black person offers you no status except at work.
Thanks for the insight. But what about for black lawyers, who potentially can do much better than average financially and depending on the area of law, be in great demand? Just wanted those to share their thoughts in this regard.
Last edited by LexusNexus; 09-28-2008 at 04:35 PM..
To the OP, are you a lawyer? I only ask because I assume you would know that the legal profession is very competitive and that there is a clear pecking order depending on where you went to law school and where you ranked in your class. The bottom line is if you ranked in the top 10 percent or better and went to a well known law school, you can basically write your own ticket regardless of race. Now how happy or successful you are once you land the job depends on you and the people around you at the firm. A lot of blacks leave the major firms before having the chance to make partner for a variety of reasons. In summary, I don’t think the environment for black lawyers in LA is any different than it is in any other major legal market. If you are smart and performed well in law school then you will be in demand (especially being a minority) and will receive good offers. It you were average or mediocre in law school you will have to work harder to land a job that you want and that pays well. You might try contacting the National Bar Association to see if they can put you in contact with some black lawyers to network with in LA. There’s also another group called Black Women Lawyers of Los Angeles, but I’m less familiar with them.
National Bar Association (http://www.nationalbar.org/index2.shtml - broken link)
LA is not the best place fpr Blacks these days, period. Unless you are comfortable being in the minority, you would need to live in a Black nieghborhood, (LA has quite a few nice ones) and work for a Black company (extremely few of those).
Blacks in LA have two problems: 1) Blacks are leaving LA in droves. 2) Blacks in LA have very little sense of community or unity. You have to go specifically to the Blacjk area and work with the "faithful few".
In LA, being a professional Black person offers you no status except at work.
I don’t know where you are getting your information, but last I checked LA still has one of the largest black populations among the major metro areas in the U.S. after New York and Chicago. There are nearly 900,000 blacks in LA County alone.
And how would you know whether there’s a sense of community among blacks in LA? YOU ARE NOT BLACK! Just on a common sense level, your statement lacks credibility. There is a significant and well known history of blacks in LA to this day. South LA and the Crenshaw District and Inglewood, for example, are still largely black. There are several large, prominent, nationally and internationally known black churches in LA or churches that are mixed raced but led by black people, and there are many black owned businesses in those areas and a vibrant art scene that are largely supported by black people. The largest black owned bank in the United States, OneUnited Bank, is headquartered in LA. Also the most affluent majority black neighborhoods in the U.S. are in LA. This doesn’t look like disunity to me.
I would also point out that despite the decrease of the black population percentage wise due to the large influx of Latinos--blacks remain active, prominent, and politically powerful in LA.
Three of the 15 LA City Council members are black; Herb Wesson, Jan Perry, and Bernard Parks. That’s a fifth of the council membership, and we all know that blacks do not make up a fifth of LA’s population.
The chair of the LA County Board of Supervisors, Yvonne Burke, is black and she will be replaced by a black person after the November elections when she steps down.
The vice president of the LA Police Commission, which oversees the LAPD, John Mack, is black. He previously served as president of the commission.
The superintendent of LAUSD, David Brewer, is black.
The immediate past president of LAX and LA World Airports, Lydia Kennard, is black.
The president of the LA Fire Commission, which overseas the LAFD, Genethia Hudley-Hayes, is black.
Maxine Waters and Diane Watson are black women who represent LA in the U.S. Congress. Karen Bass, the speaker of the California Assembly and arguably the second most powerful elected official in the state is black and from LA, and there are at least 5 other blacks in the California Legislature from LA.
I could go on and on about all of the prominent and well known blacks in the entertainment industry, in local media, in higher education at USC and UCLA, and in other business sectors. But I think I’ve made my point.
Your assertion that blacks lack status or position in LA and lack community is completely erroneous and not grounded in any factual evidence.
Last edited by TheRealAngelion; 09-29-2008 at 12:13 AM..
On her profile, CESpeed identifies her race as black.
She is? That's news to me. Which makes her commentary about the black community in LA all the more perplexing and disappointing.
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