Hon. Constance Baker Motley Essay Competition- 3rd Place Winner

The Federal Bar Association’s Hon. Constance Baker Motley Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Young Member Essay Competition is created to celebrate the life of Hon. Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005) and promote her legacy by encouraging law students and younger federal practitioners to promote, achieve, and sustain diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession.

The competition is named after Judge Baker Motley, the first African American woman appointed to the federal judiciary and the first woman judge in the Southern District of New York. She was a key leader of the African American civil rights movement, a lawyer, judge, state senator, and Borough president of Manhattan, New York City.

Derek Van De Walle, Third Place Winner of the Hon. Constance Baker Motley Essay Competition

Sometimes doors are opened by invitation; sometimes they must be forced open by those courageous enough to do so. The latter is Judge Constance Baker Motley’s legacy.  As a civil rights lawyer and federal judge, she helped open the doors of public institutions that had long been closed to those whose rights were ignored or whose voices were dismissed.

That commitment is evident in the cases she decided.  In Ludtke v. Kuhn, Judge Motley opened the door to baseball locker rooms for women reporters.  She also understood that access to justice means little if the courthouse door is blocked.  In Sostre v. Rockefeller, she condemned the use of punitive segregation against a prisoner who had pursued his own legal rights and assisted other inmates with theirs, thereby opening the door to the courts for those behind prison walls and closing the door on solitary confinement that is degrading, destructive, and dangerous.  Then, in Belknap v. Leary, Judge Motley protected anti-war protestors by ordering police protection for the exercise of First Amendment rights.  Underlying Judge Motley’s decision is the understanding that a fundamental right may be meaningless if exercising it exposes the person to harm.

Judge Motley recognized that “[t]he right to pursue one’s profession is a fundamental ‘liberty’” protected by the Constitution.  Ludtke v. Kuhn, 461 F.Supp. 86, 98 (S.D. N.Y. 1978).  Although she wrote that in the context of sports journalism, the principle can be applied to the legal profession as well.  Despite the many doors that Judge Motley and others have opened, federal practice remains exclusionary to many, particularly those within historically disadvantaged or excluded groups.

To sustain Judge Motley’s legacy, lawyers and judges must continue opening doors into federal practice.  That can be done in three concrete ways.

First, courts, law schools, bar associations, and federal practitioners can build pipelines for first-generation and underrepresented law students through early exposure to federal practice, such as courtroom observations, mock arguments, and summer placements.

Second, judges and former clerks should work closely with local law schools to hold annual clerkship workshops explaining what chambers look for, how to prepare writing samples, how to request recommendations, and how to interview. Students and newer lawyers should be paired with federal practitioners, former clerks, and judges, with specific touchpoints: one résumé review, one writing-sample review, one mock interview, one courthouse visit, and one introduction to another lawyer or judge. The sponsorship piece is key: mentors should affirmatively recommend mentees for clerkships, committees, speaking roles, and courtroom opportunities.

Third, unpaid internships exclude students who cannot afford to work for free. Firms, law schools, and bar associations should fund stipends for students pursuing federal practice opportunities, especially in public-interest and government settings.

Opening the door is only the start. Judge Motley’s legacy asks us to do more than admire opened doors. It asks us to keep them open, widen them, and force open the ones that remain closed.

About the Author

Derek Van De Walle is a Chief Solicitor with the Baltimore City Law Department, where he represents the City in complex civil litigation in state and federal courts. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law and is actively involved in Baltimore’s legal and civic communities. Derek is a former chair of the Bar Association of Baltimore City’s Young Lawyers’ Division and serves on the boards of Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service and the Courthouse and Law Museum Foundation. He is also a docent and tour guide focused on Baltimore’s legal history.

About the FBA

Founded in 1920, the Federal Bar Association is dedicated to the advancement of the science of jurisprudence and to promoting the welfare, interests, education, and professional development of all attorneys involved in federal law. Our more than 14,000 members run the gamut of federal practice: attorneys practicing in small to large legal firms, attorneys in corporations and federal agencies, and members of the judiciary. The FBA is the catalyst for communication between the bar and the bench, as well as the private and public sectors. Visit us at fedbar.org to learn more.