CT lawyers group to honor embattled chief public defender for promoting inclusion, diversity

Chief Public defender TaShun Bowden-Lewis, who faces potential dismissal on charges that include making baseless allegations of racism, has been chosen to receive an award for promoting inclusion and diversity by a group funded by some of the state’s top law firms, businesses and schools.

Bowden-Lewis is scheduled to receive the Edwin Archer Randolf award from the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity on May 29, just days after the commission that oversees the Public Defender Service is expected to decide whether to dismiss her or impose lesser discipline for charges that stretch over her nearly two years in office.

There were only two responses Wednesday to more than a dozen inquiries about the award from the Lawyers Collaborative and the dozens of lawyers on its executive committee and board of directors. Those who responded said they were not involved in the selection of the award recipient. One said she was unaware Bowden-Lewis was being honored until informed by The Courant.

The Lawyers Collaborative says its mission is “to increase the representation of lawyers of color in the state of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts.” The lawyers associated with the group are partners in prominent law firms, law schools, government agencies and businesses. Many of those organizations support the collaborative financially, according to the group’s promotional materials.

Bowden-Lewis is one of the group’s directors and could not be reached. The award she is to receive is named for Edwin Archer Randolph, a Yale Law School graduate who, in 1880, became the first lawyer of color admitted to the Connecticut Bar.

“In tribute to his legacy, this award honors an individual who promotes inclusion and advancement of lawyers of color and other professionals,” according to a social media post promoting the award.

Bowden-Lewis’s tenure as top administrator in the state agency that defends the indigent has been marked by ongoing confrontation with the Public Defender Services Commission, which supervises the division and has authority over hiring, spending and policy. Several division attorneys have said much of the disagreement involved questions about race.

CT agency to hold open hearing on state’s embattled chief public defender

Over the 20 months in her position, Bowden-Lewis has clashed with the commission, claiming she has the last word on hiring and other matters, something on which the commission and the division legal council disagree. During repeated confrontations, she has complained of being micro-managed and second-guessed because she is Black. On three occasions, she retained an employment lawyer to accuse successive commissions of discrimination in letters containing thinly veiled threats of civil rights suits.

In early 2023, four of the five members of the commission that appointed Bowden-Lewis as Connecticut’s first, Black female chief public defender abruptly resigned when she accused them of discriminating against her during a dispute over the appointment of a division Human Resources director. The commission  appointed a white woman to the position after concluding that the candidate Bowden-Lewis preferred, a Black woman, lacked the required experience.

The current commission, hastily appointed after the mass resignation, hired the Hartford law firm Shipman & Goodwin, to investigate the human resources dispute and related matters. The firm reported that Bowden-Lewis eventually forced the resignation of the commission’s choice for Human Resources director by making her working conditions intolerable and then named her preferred candidate acting director.

Shipman also reported that Bowden-Lewis had shown “a propensity to resort to baseless allegations of racism merely because someone disagrees” with her – a conclusion reinforced repeatedly by the commission in the list of 16 charges it has brought against her.

“She didn’t increase diversity in the workplace,” senior Public Defender Joseph Lopez said Wednesday. “What she did was increase divisiveness in the division and we are now trying to repair it. She has set the movement back.”

Last year, Bowden-Lewis declined to investigate after the division’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion accused Lopez of trying to “act white.”

Some of the law firms and organizations the Lawyers Collaborative identifies as “supporters” have taken positions against Bowden-Lewis in recent months.

Shipman & Goodwin is identified as a supporter, as is the Division of Public Defender Services, which through the commission, will decide later this month whether to remove her from office. So is the state Attorney General’s office, which is advising the commission on legal procedures it needs to follow with regard to a chief public defender.

The Public Defender Services Commission has provided Bowden-Lewis with the list of 16 charges against her and she has responded. The commission is scheduled to meet on May 21 to decide on discipline up to and including potential removal from office.