Austin Bar Starts Podcast on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

Podcast Highlights Value of Diversity in Legal Leadership Positions

The Austin Bar Association was awarded a $15,000 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation to start a podcast dedicated to highlighting the value of diversity in leadership positions in the Austin legal community.

Highlighting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal community has been a core issue for Amanda Arriaga, president of the Austin Bar Association for 2022-23.

“Since 1893, the Austin Bar Association has only had 14 female presidents and eight minority presidents,” she said. “Of the eight minorities, only three were female.”

Arriaga is the first Hispanic female president of the Austin Bar.

When Arriaga discovered this fact, her “Council of Firsts” initiative was born.

During her time as president, Arriaga has sought to put inclusion at the forefront by offering DEI training to the board and ensuring good governance by utilizing the Equitable and Inclusive Vendor Policy year-round for all contracts over $1,000.

The Council of Firsts podcast is another step toward making the Austin Bar Association a more inclusive and equitable organization.

“This podcast is meant to discuss the need for diversity in legal leadership positions, and spans beyond the Austin Bar Associa- tion to feature the important firsts in the Austin legal community,” she said.

The podcast premiered on April 18, 2023, and featured Velva Price, the Austin Bar’s first African American female president who currently serves as District Clerk for Travis County.

The second episode, which premiered on April 25, featured Richard Pena, the first Hispanic president of the Austin Bar and the first Hispanic president of the State Bar of Texas.

Future episodes will feature Betty Balli Torres, the current executive director of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, who was also the first Latina executive director of that organization and the first Latina to receive the Distinguished Lawyer Award from the Austin Bar Foundation; Gary Schumann, founder of the LGBT Bar Association and current chair of the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce; Gisela Triana, the first Latina justice of the Third Court of Appeals; and Caroline Hall, president of the Travis County Women Lawyers’ Association.

The Council of Firsts podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all other podcasting platforms.

Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $24 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation’s largest charitably-funded bar foundation. AL

2022-23 Austin Bar Association President Amanda Arriaga