Four attorneys, among them Detroit lawyer and former American Bar Association President Reginald M. Turner, were recently honored by the ABA for their work promoting a more racially and ethically diverse legal profession.
The four were honored by the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession at its Spirit of Excellence Award luncheon during the association’s recent midyear meeting in New Orleans.
Turner, a lawyer with Clark Hill in Detroit and accomplished litigator, government affairs advocate and strategic adviser, served as ABA president from 2021 to 2022.
He has served as president of the National Bar Association and the State Bar of Michigan. He also is former chair of the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, where he developed policies and procedures that enhanced the commission and its work.
In his acceptance speech, Turner recounted how he became involved in diversity efforts as a child when his family joined a program to bring together people of different backgrounds to engage in racial healing after the 1967 Detroit riots.
“I have learned that we can improve the quality of life in our nation,” Turner said, touting the influence of lawyers and the ABA. “The pandemic created a number of barriers for us, but it’s also created opportunities for the ABA to shine. The ABA has been very instrumental in helping our nation get through very difficult times.”
The three other honorees are:
• Diandra Benally, the first female general counsel of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. A former special assistant U.S. attorney and former staff attorney with the Navajo Nation Department of Justice, Benally has led the National Native American Bar Association Foundation, the Native American Bar Association of Arizona and the Navajo Nation Bar Association. She helped start a mentoring program and mentors students to increase the number of Native American students in colleges and law schools.
• Roger Gregory, chief judge on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. The first African American to serve on the court, Gregory was nominated by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and President George W. Bush in 2001. He has worked with the ABA Appellate Judges Education Institute on Diversity and Inclusion and the National Judicial College to help diversify the judiciary and the legal profession.
Before joining the appeals court, Gregory worked for law firms in Richmond, Virginia.
• Goodwin H. Liu, associate justice on the California Supreme Court, appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011 and retained by voters in 2014. Before joining the court, Liu was a professor and associate dean at the University of California Berkeley School of Law. The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Liu grew up in Sacramento and helped launch the AmeriCorps national service program. He teaches constitutional law as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.
