Stephanie Scharf, '85, Appointed to ABA Presidential Commission on Diversity

The American Bar Association (ABA) has named Scharf Banks Marmor LLC founding partner Stephanie A. Scharf an Advisor to the group’s new Presidential Commission on Diversity and Inclusion 360. Scharf has been asked to focus on the Commission’s implicit bias projects.

ABA President Paulette Brown formed the Commission in August with the mission of reviewing and analyzing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, the judicial system and the ABA. Its goal is to develop sustainable action plans.

Brown hopes to formulate methods, policy, standards and practices to best advance diversity and inclusion over the next 10 years. Practical tools will be produced and other action items undertaken in order to move the needle on diversity and inclusion in an impactful way. The Commission will achieve its mission through four working groups that examine different facets of diversity and inclusion: Implicit Bias, Pipeline, Guidelines and Implementation and Economic Case.

“ABA President Paulette Brown has taken groundbreaking steps in creating this commission,” said Scharf. “I’m honored to join this elite group of distinguished lawyers and look forward to making a real impact on increasing diversity of the profession. We need more champions for diversity in our field, and this group is positioned to drill down to the issues that can bring concrete changes.”

Scharf says she is no stranger to understanding the pressures women and minorities face in the workplace, as she raised two children while rising to partnership at two of Chicago’s largest and most vaunted law firms. Three years ago, Scharf Banks Marmor LLC was formed, and today it is the largest majority-women-owned law firm in Illinois, and one of the largest in the country.

Read more at the original publication