Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

WALA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy Statement

The Wisconsin Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators values a diverse, equitable, and inclusive association where all volunteers, whatever their gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education, or disability, are valued and respected. We are committed to the nondiscriminatory recruitment and retention of everyone and provide equal opportunity for inclusion in all our board, committee, volunteer, and membership activities. We respect and value diverse life experiences, heritages and strive to ensure all voices are valued and heard.

We’re committed to modeling diversity for the entire legal industry and to maintaining an equitable environment with inclusive treatment for all.

To provide informed, authentic leadership for cultural equity, WALA strives to:

• See diversity, equity and inclusion as connected to our mission and critical to ensure the well-being of our volunteers and the communities we serve.
• Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services, and continually update and report organization progress.
• Explore potential underlying, unquestioned assumptions that interfere with inclusiveness.
• Advocate for and support board-level thinking about how systemic inequities impact our organization’s work, and how best to address that in a way that is consistent with WALA’s mission.
• Help to challenge assumptions about what it takes to be a strong leader within WALA, and who is well-positioned to provide leadership.
• Practice and encourage transparent communication in all interactions.
• Commit time and resources to expanding more diverse leadership within our board and advisory committees.
• Lead with respect and tolerance. We expect all volunteers to embrace this notion and to express it in workplace interactions and through everyday practices.

WALA abides by the following action items to help promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workplace:

• Pursue cultural competency throughout WALA by creating substantive learning opportunities and formal, transparent policies.
• Sharing quantitative and qualitative research related to equity to make incremental, measurable progress toward the visibility of our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The content will be shared in newsletters and social media postings, with the newsletters being added to our website.
• Improve our cultural leadership pipeline by creating and supporting programs and policies that foster leadership that reflects the diversity of our communities.
• Pool resources and expand offerings for underrepresented constituents by connecting with other ALA Chapters committed to diversity and inclusion efforts.
• Develop and present sessions on diversity, equity and inclusion to provide information and resources internally, and to members, the community, and the legal industry.