An IRELA CLE Webinar

Beyond Bias: Strategies for Inclusive Legal Leadership

Julia Roundtree Livingston

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager - Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism 

MCLE approved for 1-hour Diversity and Inclusion CLE credit

Registration is Free for IRELA Members
Non-Members ~ $50*

Lawyers are leaders in society and the workplace. As leaders, lawyers must ensure they create a workplace environment that is both productive and inclusive.

The way attorneys work has shifted. Technology, the hybrid workplace, the emergence of AI, and law firm growth rates are just a few ways that the legal profession has changed over the past few decades.

While these changes are significant, the legal profession cannot lose sight of the changing landscape of diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion are important to ensure quality work as well as equity inherent in the rule of law.

This course explores how identifying bias and stereotypes can provide you with skills to be leaders in creating more inclusive legal workplaces.

Julia Roundtree Livingston

Julia Roundtree Livingston serves as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager for the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, where she promotes integrity, civility, and professionalism among the lawyers and judges of Illinois. In this role, Julia leads the Commission’s educational and advocacy initiatives aimed at promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the legal and justice systems. She joined the Commission in January 2023.

As DEI Manager, Julia develops and delivers legal education on DEI and other professionalism topics to lawyers, judges, and law students, and performs outreach across the state on behalf of the Commission. She also supports the Commission’s lawyer-to-lawyer mentoring program and manages its involvement in Jumpstart, a law school preparatory program for historically underrepresented law students from all 9 Illinois law schools.

Before joining the Commission, Julia was the Executive Director of Macon County CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in Illinois. She was appointed to this role in 2018 after serving as CASA’s Director of Development.

At CASA, Julia led a sustainable nonprofit organization with multiple streams of funding while educating the community on the need for CASA’s services. This included working with local lawyers and judges to organize trainings for CASA volunteers, regularly communicating with legal and judicial professionals about CASA’s capabilities, and presentations to the Decatur Bar Association on CASA’s work.

During her time at CASA, she grew the organization’s impact by increasing the number of community volunteers who became advocates as well as the number of children that CASA serves. In 2021, Julia led Macon County CASA in expanding its services into a second county, DeWitt County.

In addition to her role at CASA, Julia was a member of the Illinois CASA Equity Task Force, the Illinois CASA/Children Advocacy Centers Task Force, and the CWAC (Child Welfare Advisory Committee) on Racial Equity led by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services.

Before joining CASA, Julia was the Director of Development at Baby TALK, an educational non-profit in Decatur, Illinois, and an English professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Florida State University, and Richland Community College.

Julia received an ABD (all but dissertation) in African American Literature and U.S. Literature Since 1865 from Florida State University and a master’s and bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where she was a 4-year letter winner in cross country and indoor/outdoor track.

Julia is a current member of the Diversity & Education Leadership Team at the Maroa-Forsyth School District, founder of Discourse on Racial Difference: A Macon County Book Club, which has 600 members statewide and current chair of the Untold Stories Steering Committee which is 1 of 4 Illinois pilot programs tasked to promote a fuller understanding of history as a contribution about racial equity and social justice in Macon County. She also sits on the state of Illinois Untold Stories Advisory Committee.

Julia lives with her husband and three children in Forsyth, Illinois. As a family, they enjoy board games, watching sports, playing basketball and soccer, and traveling.

PCAM Course ID: 

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