The Downtown Group was the brainchild of the late Ruthie White ’97 — a South Texas College of Law Houston alumna and board member who was a partner at Spencer Fane at the time of her passing in late 2023.
White saw the group grow from a handful of founders in 1997 to more than 300 Black women attorneys who call themselves “sisters-in-law.”
“Ruthie saw how busy all of us were and recognized we needed to build stronger connections to make our work as attorneys more successful and fulfilling,” said one original group founder Helen B. Jenkins, South Texas Law executive vice president emerita and professor of law. “She believed Black female lawyers needed a more organized group to turn to when they needed to deal with issues affecting Black women practicing law.”
White, upon graduating from law school and passing the bar, realized such a group did not exist. Before choosing law as a second career, White was a corporate human resources manager, and she knew the benefits of connecting with people who have similar backgrounds and experiences.
To share her vision, White hosted a lunch gathering that included two of her former law professors, Jenkins and Shelby Moore, now South Texas Law’s vice president for the Agosto Justice Center and professor of law. Also attending were BigLaw attorneys, a district judge, and in-house counsel for large corporations. This planning group, now known as the founders, loved the idea and immediately agreed to be involved.
“White was bold in all areas of her life,” Jenkins said. “While a student, she walked up to me and said, ‘I’d like to be your research assistant.’ I agreed, and she was a perfect one. She helped me with an article I eventually earned tenure on. She wanted this group to be perfect, too. For the first meeting, she expected 25 women; we had 44. By the third meeting — a luncheon hosted at the law school — we had 90. Today, we have more than 300.”
The focus of the group from the beginning has been “sanctuary and sisterhood,” and growth has happened mostly by word of mouth as people have had good experiences.
Moore said, “For younger lawyers, other members served as role models and offered opportunities to explore their futures. They might meet someone in a certain role and think, ‘She became that. I can, too.’ We talk to other women lawyers in a safe, comfortable space where everything is held in confidence. Through the years, we watched so many young women continue to rise in the ranks. That makes us so proud.”
Jenkins recalls the day when nearly 100 Black women lawyers came to the Emilie Slohm Auditorium at the law school for a luncheon of The Downtown Group. “It was amazing. The elevator kept opening, and people kept pouring in. I was so happy to see all those wonderful women, and I was very proud we were a sponsor.”
When the group formed, the number of Black women in the law profession was small, making it especially meaningful and valuable to those who participated.
“You could talk about your experiences and have a feeling of absolute trust among the sisters gathered there,” Jenkins said. “We hosted CLEs, panel discussions, guest speakers, and my favorite programs called ‘All About Me,’ where we could bring up a problem or issue and ask the group for guidance and advice.”
The initial idea of the founders was to limit attendance to Black female lawyers in the downtown area so the total size would be 25 and no one would have to do much work to organize gatherings. However, the pent-up demand resulted in fast growth and requests by lawyers beyond downtown to attend as guests.
In 2000, The Downtown Group voted to expand membership to include attorneys practicing outside the downtown area. Today, membership has grown to more than 300 Black female lawyers practicing in Harris County and its surrounding suburbs, including law professors, district attorneys, city attorneys, in-house counsel, outside counsel, solo practitioners, and governmental attorneys. The group’s model has been so successful that they helped a similar men’s group form as well.
“I hope this group continues forever,” Moore said. “I’ll never forget how helpful it has been to me and to so many other lawyers. We’ve had some life-changing conversations — sometimes in the formal meeting, but often in the casual time before or after. It has created a real bond among Black female lawyers that might not have existed otherwise. We can thank Ruthie for that.”
For more information about The Downtown Group, please go to https://dtghouston.com/page-7738.
