The Importance and Impact of African American Attorneys

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The Importance and Impact of African American
Attorneys
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• The importance and impact of African American
  attorneys in the U.S. legal and justice systems
  cannot be overemphasized.
• According to the American Bar Association, a
  staggering 88 of all lawyers in the U.S. are
  whites while only 4.8 are blacks and one in 15
  black men is incarcerated compared to only one in
  106 white men.
• The representation of more African American
  attorneys in the U.S. legal system will eliminate
  this disparity and ensure that African Americans
  are evenly represented in the American criminal
  justice system.

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• The Importance of African American Attorneys
• America needs more African American lawyers for
  the following reasons
• Better Outcomes
• Having more African American attorneys will
  guarantee better outcomes in the American
  criminal justice system. Due to a common group
  identity, a black attorney can easily communicate
  with a black client and gain their trust more
  than a white attorney would do.

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• Elimination of Bias
• The American justice system is full of bias
  against minorities, especially blacks, who are
  disadvantaged in both civil and criminal cases
  and are more likely to lose cases due to lack of
  trust in lawyers and the legal system, limited
  information and poor resources. White attorneys,
  research shows, discriminate against blacks in
  the choice of cases they handle and consider
  things like their clients ability to pay as well
  as demeanor and mannerisms, euphemisms for racial
  characteristics.

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• Reduced Chapter 7 Filings
• Studies have shown that white attorneys recommend
  more of Chapter 13, the more onerous and costly
  form of consumer bankruptcy, to black clients
  than they would do to white clients, even when
  its glaring that black clients prefer Chapter 7,
  the less onerous form of consumer bankruptcy. As
  a result, African Americans have the highest
  rates of Chapter 13 filings and the
  representation of more African American lawyers
  in the American legal system will put an end to
  this anomaly.

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• The Impact of African American Attorneys
• Many African American lawyers have made a huge
  difference in the American legal system. They
  include the following
• Charlotte Ray
• Charlotte Ray is Americas first female black
  lawyer. An important figure in the abolitionist
  movement, Ray received her law degree in 1872 and
  became the first first woman to be admitted to
  legal practice in the U.S.

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• Thurgood Marshall
• Thurgood Marshall is the first African American
  Supreme Court justice. Marshall was instrumental
  to the promotion of racial equality during the
  civil rights movement in the U.S. In 1954,
  Marshall won the Brown v. Board of Education case
  that brought an end to racial segregation in
  public schools in the U.S.

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• Charles Houston
• Charles Houston will forever be remembered as the
  man who killed Jim Crow laws, a system of
  segregation formerly enforced in the Southern
  United States aimed at holding the black man
  down. Houston was also a prominent figure in
  almost every civil rights case before the U.S.
  Supreme Court between 1930 and 1954. He is also
  known to have trained and mentored a lot of black
  attorneys, including Marshall himself.
• African American attorneys have overtime fought
  against all forms of injustices and
  discriminations in the U.S. 

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• Hasina Lewis is one of these African American
  lawyers at the forefront of the promotion of
  racial equality and the elimination of all forms
  of injustices and discriminations against all
  black Americans.
• Hasina champions this cause through her law
  firm Lewis Law, which specializes in criminal
  cases like arson, assault and battery, drug
  possession and distribution, fraud and forgery,
  malicious wounding, marijuana possession, petit
  and grand larceny, possession/concealment of
  firearms and other dangerous weapons, probation
  violations, prostitution or robbery. 

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• Lewis Law has won over 94 of cases in more than
  1,000 court appearances and succeeded in securing
  the reduction of the sentences of over 340 of
  those cases. Were an experienced and innovative
  criminal defense and injury law firm in Northern
  Virginia. 
• Get your free consultation today. For more
  information or inquiries, call our toll-free
  number [phone] or visit our office at 3925
  Chain Bridge Road, Suite 202, Fairfax, VA 22030.