January 22, 2007
Lawyers Weekly Diversity Heroes
JUDGE LESLIE E. HARRIS
This Juvenile Court judge keeps on 'waging that war' to even up the odds for minorities in the law
Birth: May 23, 1948; Chicago
Education: Boston College Law School (1984); Boston University, M.A. (1974); Northwestern University (1970)
Bar admission: 1987
Professional experience: Judge, Juvenile Court, Suffolk County Division (1994-present); chief, Juvenile Division, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office (1992-1994); Committee for Public Counsel Services (1987-1992); Suffolk County probation officer (1978-1981)
Honors/achievements: Massachusetts Judges Conference Judge of the Year Award, Massachusetts Bar Association Community Service Award, 10-Point Coalition Service Award, Crime & Justice Foundation Mary Q. Hawkes Service Award, Boston College Law School Distinguished Alumni Award
Role models: Former Roxbury District Court Judge Richard L. Banks and the late U.S. District Court Judge David S. Nelson, the latter because “he’s the one who got me thinking about going to law school.�
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A few years ago, Suffolk County Juvenile Court Judge Leslie E. Harris had occasion to visit Quincy District Court. In a suit, but not wearing his judicial robe, Harris found himself being barred at the door.
"The security officer didn't want to let me in — as a judge!" Harris, who is black, recalls, an audible note of exasperation in his voice.
Then there was the time he and several other black members of the state judiciary went for a meal at a well-known restaurant in Stockbridge while they were attending a Massachusetts judges' conference in the Berkshires. "We didn't get served," Harris says.
"Those things stay with you," he adds somberly.
Even though his experiences with racial discrimination remain fresh in his mind, Harris believes that the climate for minorities has improved noticeably of late.
"We have come so far in this country," he says, homing in on this state's progress on the racial front despite a checkered past in that area. "When Massachusetts can elect a young black governor [Deval L. Patrick], you know things have changed. But it's still difficult for the man on the street."
A Chicago native, Harris saw those difficulties close-up when, after he moved to Boston in the early 1970s and earned a master's degree at Boston University, he took a job as a probation officer in Suffolk County. What he observed on that job inspired him to aim for a career in the law and, ultimately, on the bench.
"I never thought about being a lawyer until I became a probation officer," Harris explains. "But then I got to see lawyers, I got to see judges ... as people. I got to see a judge as a person who can make a difference in the lives of people."
After graduating from Boston College Law School, Harris worked as a state public defender and then as chief of the Suffolk County District Attorney's Juvenile Division — solid training grounds for his 1994 appointment as a Suffolk County Juvenile Court judge.
"We serve a community that's diverse," Harris says. "I want people who come into court to feel that the court understands who they are, [understands] their trials and tribulations. Even if they're found guilty, I want them to feel they got justice."
To ensure that understanding, Harris is serving as co-chairman (with Southern New England School of Law Dean Robert V. Ward Jr., who is also black) of the state trial courts' Racial and Ethnic Advisory Board.
Established by Barbara A. Dortch-Okara when she was the courts' chief justice for administration and management and continuing under CJAM Robert A. Mulligan, the board "tries to identify and be proactive around issues of diversity," including employment of minorities and translators in the courts.
"We try to head off [a problem] before it becomes an issue."
Harris says he senses a commitment to the board's goals. "People in court know they have someone they can turn to," he reports, "and I feel I can have a meaningful conversation with Judge Mulligan about the issues."
But the effort overall is, Harris says, "almost like swimming upstream."
Still, with Patrick in the governor's office, this judge is optimistic about the prospect of further diversification within the ranks of judges and court staffers.
"Deval Patrick will give people a fair opportunity to advance [as] judges and clerks," he says. "I know he's not a miracle worker, but I think he will be fair and approachable. I think he's sensitive to the need for true diversity — not just black and white."
In the meantime, Harris is hoping more minority lawyers will consider careers in the law even as he acknowledges "an uphill battle" on that front as minority enrollment at law schools shows signs of a decline.
"Law schools are redefining diversity [and are] courting mostly Asian students and privileged Hispanic students," the judge says. "I don't want to sound divisive, but the fact remains that within minorities there are groups that are being underrepresented."
Returning to the subject of battles, Harris prefers to view the effort to even up the odds for minorities — be they that "man on the street," law students, private practitioners or judges — as "more like a war, not like an individual battle."
He adds: "We're going to win some battles and lose some battles, but we have to keep waging that war."