June 25, 2020 – While June is usually a time of celebration for many in the Buchalter community, including our LGBTQ+ and Black colleagues and friends celebrating pride month and Juneteenth, this June brought great challenges in many forms. In reflecting on these challenges and celebrations, we reflect on Buchalter’s own history.
Irwin Buchalter founded our Firm in 1933, after being unable to find a law firm that would hire him because of his faith. Sadly, many familiar forms of intolerance remain this June ‑– fifty-one years since Stonewall, eighty-seven years since Irwin Buchalter founded this Firm, and one hundred fifty five years since Union Major General Gordon Granger informed the enslaved people in Texas of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Buchalter’s founding principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion remain as important today as ever. That is why at Buchalter we are listening, learning, and engaging in discussions about the importance of diversity and understanding our own implicit biases; recommitting to pro-bono work focused on underserved communities; and encouraging our attorneys to foster inclusion and compassion in their own communities.
As we continue with our own efforts surrounding equity, diversity, and inclusion, we will share them with you here. We invite you to do the same.
Buchalter Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
