Kerry Washington (our forever Olivia Pope), and Reasonable Doubt director and producer, partnered with The Black Lawyers Podcast to create inspirational personalized sweatshirts in honor of her on-screen lawyer sisters as promotion for her new and popular legal drama, Reasonable Doubt, on Hulu.
On Reasonable Doubt, a new lawyer and main character, Jax Stewart, adds to the esteemed and rich legacy of Black woman TV lawyers: Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) from How to Get Away with Murder, Molly Carter (Yvonne Orji) from Insecure, Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres) from Suits, Clair Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad) from The Cosby Show, Maxine Felice Shaw (Erika Alexander) from Living Single and Jax Stewart (Emayatzy Corinealdi) from Reasonable Doubt.
Last Saturday, Washington decided to pay homage to the Black women portraying attorneys as the Scandal star. Former TV lawyer who played Olivia Pope on the iconic ABC drama rocked a black sweatshirt with the names “Clare, Joan, Maxine, Jessica, Olivia, Annalise, Molly, and Jax” listed in white, bold letters.
The sweatshirt campaign also highlighted a glaring statistic that affects our community, less than 2.5% of lawyers are Black women. In Washington’s Instagram post on Saturday, she noted, “This shirt was inspired by a design made by @TheBlackLawyersPodcast. Less than 2.5% of Lawyers are Black women, but they are working to change that!”
The Black Lawyers community is working actively to change the limited representation. TheBlackLawyers.com is a resource and community platform for the public and Black Lawyers to access all things Black law related. The collective offers a Black lawyer directory and discusses the latest legal news.
Washington’s friend, Tracee Ellis Ross, also participated by proudly and joyfully showing off her sweatshirt via Instagram as a nod to her former role as Joan Carol Clayton in Girlfriends. “As a former Black Woman TV lawyer (Joan Carol Clayton, Esq 👩🏾⚖️), I have no objections!” Shout out to my friend @kerrywashington for creating this cute sweatshirt celebrating #BlackWomenTVLawyers in honor of her legal drama @reasonabledoubthulu!” she said.
If you are a Black woman lawyer or TV fan, you can purchase the sweatshirt for $45 on Phenomenal. This Black Lawyer sweatshirt is The Black Lawyers organization’s original design and supports its Black Law Student Scholarship.
Reasonable Doubt is now streaming on Hulu.