Farewell to Diversity Corner

• Publication year: 2024
• Citation: Vol. 93 No. 4 Pg. 48
• Pages: 48

Farewell to diversity corner93 J. Kan. Bar Assn 4, 48 (2024)Kansas Bar JournalAugust 2024

An Outgoing Editor's Love Letter to the Diversity Corner

By Diana Stanley Depew Gillen Rathbun & Mclnteer LC

My first introduction to the Kansas Bar Association Diversity Committee was as a 1L at an "Elf" (the movie) themed Christmas party shortly after escaping a conversation between two coroners about their favorite parts of the job. I found myself a friend in Merideth Hogan, an active KBA member. Merideth explained that she was the current editor for the Diversity Corner, a column in the KBA's "magazine for lawyers." As we talked, I made the rookie mistake of saying, "You know, I think it would be interesting to read an article about ...,"^[1] to which Merideth replied, "Sounds great. Why don't you write it?"

Fresh off the coroner conversation and thinking of upcoming internship interviews, I said yes. As the KBA works to increase engagement with younger attorneys, perhaps there's a lesson in there. Get them to volunteer for things by distracting them with talk of cadavers.

A year and a half later, Merideth came back. She was getting a promotion to committee chair and needed someone to fill her place managing the column. I was supposed to have an attorney as a co-editor, but the designated volunteer ended up having a health emergency one month into the gig. I didn't get another co-editor for two years. In hindsight, someone in authority really should have questioned how a third-year law student ended up with sole control of a standing bar journal...