Cultural competence

In 2010, the Michigan Campaign for Justice began recruiting key stakeholders to take part in a cultural competence and public defense Michigan workgroup. The workgroup was tasked with investigating how attorneys of color have fared in states that have implemented reforms similar to those proposed in Michigan and how all attorneys are trained to work with diverse client communities.

Click here to read the final report from the cultural competence and public defense Michigan workgroup, released in April 2011. Contact Stephanie Chang with any questions.

The workgroup included the Hon. Wade McCree, judge in the Third Circuit Court; Deierdre Weir, president and c.e.o. of Legal Aid & Defender Association, Inc.; Gregory Conyers, director of diversity for the State Bar of Michigan; Jeffrey Edison, National Conference of Black Lawyers – Michigan Chapter; Brandy Robinson, president of the Wolverine Bar Association; Tracey Brame, assistant dean of Cooley Law School – Grand Rapids; Regina Triplett, vice president of the Wayne County Criminal Defense Bar Association; Angelyn Frazer, state legislative affairs director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL); Avis Buchanan, director of the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C.; Geneva Vanderhorst, private bar defense attorney in Washington D.C. and board member for NACDL; Stephanie Chang, deputy director for the Michigan Campaign for Justice; and Theresa Thomas, policy intern for the Michigan Campaign for Justice. The Hispanic Bar Association of Michigan and Straker Bar Association were also invited to designate representatives but they were unable to do so.

In 2010, the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section released a new model training curriculum and instructional manual entitled "Building Community Trust: Improving Cross-Cultural Communication in the Criminal Justice System."

Click here to view the curriculum and related resources (articles, presentations, etc.).

The Campaign for Justice was proud to partner with many other organizations in hosting a mini training session on Friday, October 29, focused on Unit 3 from the curriculum. Catherine Beane, of Beane Consulting, was our guest trainer. Thank you to those that attended.

Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation.

Click here for a related article entitled "Beyond Bias - Cultural Competence as a Lawyer Skill" by Nelson Miller, associate dean and associate professor at Cooley Law School-Grand Rapids. The article was printed in the Michigan Bar Journal of June 2008.