Delaware Courts, Touting Diversity Progress, See Long Road Ahead

Delaware’s judiciary has taken tangible steps toward diversifying the state’s mostly White, male legal community since 2022, but there’s a long way to go, the state’s top court said in a report issued Monday.

The Delaware Supreme Court report reviews the first two years of the Delaware Bench & Bar Diversity Project, which launched two years ago with a paper laying out a “strategic plan” for increasing bench and bar diversity.

The state “has made great strides in the past two years to implement the recommendations,” but “our work is just getting started,” the report said.

Delaware’s Chancery Court, the premier US forum for corporate litigation and other business disputes, has faced criticism for years over its exclusively White roster of seven judges who hear cases without juries. The court’s first Black judge, Tamika Montgomery-Reeves—later the first Black member of the Delaware Supreme Court—now serves on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Surveys conducted in connection with the plan showed that about 91% of Delaware attorneys identify as White and 61% as male, according to the report. But applicants for the 2023 bar exam were a more diverse group, with about 69% identifying as White and 56% as female.

Civil rights leaders including the Rev. Al Sharpton have assailed that lack of diversity, while Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick—chief judge of the trial-level Chancery Court—publicly referred to it as “a black mark.”

McCormick is White, as are the court’s six vice chancellors—four men and two women. One of the men, Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III, is set to retire at the end of the year. The state supreme court has one Black member, Justice N. Christopher Griffiths.

The plan’s 50 recommendations included expanding the number of nonwhite judges, collecting demographic data, reducing implicit bias in the courtroom, and improving the education-to-employment pipeline for underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.

Five bench diversity initiatives from the strategic plan have been fully implemented, including the establishment of a diversity, equity, and inclusion coordinator and discussions about the issue at the annual judicial retreat, according to the report.

Ongoing projects include a mentorship program, efforts to support diversity initiatives at judiciary-adjacent institutions, and promoting diversity-based recruitment by the state attorney general’s office and at major law firms.

“We thank everyone for their hard work and plan to continue the momentum towards a bench and bar that reflects the population we serve,” the report said. “Much more remains to be done.”