The National LGBTQ+ Bar is proud to educate and support its membership and the broader legal community with important webinars and written resources designed to improve access to the legal profession and legal systems, promote the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within the legal profession and legal systems, and empower LGBTQ+ legal professionals and law students to be both successful and well.
Below is a collection of some of our important programming and resources. If you have any questions or concerns about an offering on this page, please do not hesitate to reach out to info@lgbtqbar.org. If this programming is meaningful to you, please consider joining the LGBTQ+ Bar or renewing your membership to help us continue producing and providing impactful content.
Law students looking for resources specific to the law school environment are invited to visit our Law Student Resources webpage, here.
Resource: LGBTQ+ Inclusion From the Bench: A Best Practices Guide for Judges
LGBTQ+ Inclusion From the Bench: A Best Practices Guide for Judges is a collaborative effort by three organizations — the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges, the National Judicial College, and the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association and Foundation. This bench guide and its companion bench card are designed to serve as resources for judges seeking to build trust with the LGBTQ+ community and foster cultures of inclusivity and respect in their courtrooms. The Guide covers a wide array of topics relating to the LGBTQ+ community, including the basics (such as key terms) and more complex legal considerations (such as case management tactics that thoughtfully consider LGBTQ+ people and experiences).
Both the Guide and Card are intended to empower judges to interact mindfully and compassionately with LGBTQ+ people and their allies, ensuring that all participants in America’s court systems are treated with dignity and respect, and making justice accessible to all who seek it. In full recognition of and appreciation for judicial independence and expertise, the Guide and Card are designed to share skills, knowledge, and processes judges may choose to adopt and inform their work. Neither resource is designed to dictate how judges must run their courtroom or rule on matters involving LGBTQ+ individuals or issues.
Resource: Best Practices For Safe Protesting
Pride began — and endures — as a defiant action for justice. In that spirit, the National LGBTQ+ Bar is proud to unveil our Know Your Rights Guide: Best Practices for Safe Protesting. Created in solidarity with our sibling organizations — A4TE, GLAD, Lambda Legal, NCLR, the National Lawyers Guild, and the National Trans Bar Association — this essential guide empowers you with the tools and knowledge to protest safely, confidently, and effectively. Whether you’re attending your first march or your hundredth, this guide equips you to stand strong while minimizing risk.
Webinar: New Lawyers Division Advice for New Associates & Law Students Entering Private Practice
A distinguished panel of LGBTQ+ Bar members discuss their top 10 tips for succeeding right off the bat in private practice, including best practices for impressing partners and clients, navigating inter-office dynamics, writing tips, professionalism expectations, and common pitfalls to avoid.
Law Student Webinar: Being Who You Are Where You Want To Be
LGBTQ+ legal professionals are working in every area of the legal field (firms, nonprofits, academia, and courts) in every type of environment across the country (urban, rural, and suburban). Unique triumphs and challenges exist in all those arenas, which can impact where LGBTQ+ law students choose to live and work post-graduation. Watch a virtual panel of attorneys and judges discuss and examine the opportunities, obstacles, and choices faced by LGBTQ+ legal professionals as they build their careers across the country.
Resource: Creating More Welcoming Workplaces
Co-authored by Harvard Law School’s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic and Beyond Binary Legal, Creating More Welcoming Workplaces is a resource guide that provides practical steps towards nonbinary inclusion in the legal profession. The challenges and best practices included in the guide are based on approximately two dozen interviews with nonbinary lawyers about their lived experiences.
The guide describes the challenges nonbinary people often experience when working as attorneys or law clerks in firms, nonprofit organizations, and courts; proposes a framework of principles to proactively address challenges; and highlights practical solutions, including policy recommendations for employers and actions for individual colleagues.
The National LGBTQ+ Bar was proud to sponsor this important project.
Webinar: How To Become A Law Teacher
Filmed in 2024, watch a panel of experienced educators share insights on securing teaching positions in law—whether as an adjunct, clinician, legal research and writing instructor, administrator, or full-time teacher of legal doctrine. Whether you’re a seasoned attorney looking to transition into academia full-time or part-time or a recent graduate interested in teaching, this webinar will provide valuable information and inspiration to help you navigate your journey into legal education.
Webinar: Living With and Moving Through Community Trauma
Filmed in 2023, this webinar addresses how LGBTQ+ legal professionals can find strength and practice healthy coping mechanisms in a landscape that is once again becoming increasingly hostile to the LGBTQ+ community. The webinar covers how to care for your mental health, physical well-being, and professional goals amid national or local episodes of anti-LGBTQ+ violence and rhetoric.
Webinar Series: ‘In Justice’
In February 2021, the National LGBTQ+ Bar released a series of three webinars aimed at addressing the systemic injustice and lack of equity experienced by Black Americans and legal professionals. Beginning with a fireside chat with Chief Justice Richard A. Robinson of the Connecticut Supreme Court, the series then addresses Black LGBTQ+ history and culminates in a meaningful conversation of what allyship with the Black community looks like in the legal profession.
Judging Injustice: Fireside Chat with Chief Justice Richard A. Robinson
The first video in this series brings together the Honorable Richard A. Robinson, Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court and the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s former President Wesley Bizzell for a conversation focused on implicit bias, racial justice, and our country’s continued struggle toward racial equality. A longtime civil rights advocate, Justice Robinson has been named by the NAACP as one of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut and by Ebony Magazine as a Power 100 award winner. This conversation reflects on the tragic and disheartening events of this year, discusses the journey ahead, and provides tips for participants on how they can play a role in advancing equity, inclusion, and justice in their communities and workplaces.
LGBTQ+ and Black History: A Conversation
Historian and attorney Zaylore Stout, author of “Our Gay History in 50 States,” provides historical perspective to the national dialogue on racial equity and focuses on how two important January events (Inauguration and first MLK day since George Floyd) fit into our nation’s larger story.
Beyond Allyship: 10 Ways to Elevate and Activate For Your Black Colleagues
This virtual panel discussion was designed to share tips on how to “Ally Up” and develop sustaining and evolving strategies for racial equity within the legal profession.
Featuring:
- Mike Jackson, Assistant General Counsel/Senior Director for Microsoft’s Global Workplace Investigations
- Nona Lee, Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Arizona Diamondbacks
- Bendita Cynthia Malakia, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Hogan Lovells
Webinar: Trans Awareness for the Workplace
In this presentation from 2021, Jamie Rodriguez, Senior Counsel at Holland & Knight LLP, will help us understand how to be aware and intentional in interacting with transgender individuals, how we can be allies to the transgender community, and the unique issues transgender people face in the workplace. In June 2019, Jamie was the first openly trans employee to transition at Holland & Knight LLP. By learning her story and listening to her guidance, we can help create inclusive workplaces and organizations, where transgender people feel supported, empowered, and safe to bring their authentic selves to work.
Webinar: Partnering with Law Firm Diversity Professionals to Advance Change
Filmed in 2020, this webinar features Bendita Cynthia Malakia, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Hogan Lovells, discussing how in-house counsel can advance change both internally and externally. While originally designed for in-house counsel, this discussion provides helpful advice to all legal professionals interested in promoting diversity, inclusion, and belonging at their workplace. Whether you are new to requesting D&I information from your law firms or you want to revamp your existing initiatives, diversity and inclusion professionals can help. During this session you will learn:
- What D&I professionals at law firms do.
- Mutually beneficial ways that law firm D&I professionals partner with in-house counsel to advance diversity.
- Approaches that aren’t as successful in partnering with law firm D&I professionals.