The career of Dimetria Jackson '87 has been marked by a commitment to justice, from her time as a Dartmouth undergraduate to her recent appointment as president of the Orange County Bar Association. Jackson assumed the presidency on Jan. 19 and is the first female African-American to serve in the position, according to Orange County Bar Association member Maria Murphy.
Jackson's recent election is the latest step in her long career representing both public and private interests, Murphy said. After graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law, Jackson first worked with the National Law Health Program, a public-interest law firm that specializes in ensuring that underprivileged and marginalized populations receive adequate health care.
Through an Echoing Green Foundation Fellowship for social entrepreneurs, Jackson created the Women With HIV Policy Development project, which lobbied to facilitate access to health care for women with HIV/AIDS or at high risk for the disease. The project helped save women's lives at a time when the public largely considered the incidence of HIV/AIDS among women a non-issue, Jackson said.
"Women were dying at a pretty high rate, but they weren't getting the benefits they needed because the [Centers for Disease Control] didn't recognize how they were manifesting HIV/AIDS," she said.
While Jackson has spent the majority of her career practicing corporate law at companies including First American Title Insurance, First American Trust and Montage Legal Group, where she currently works, she continues to prioritize community service, Crystal Crawford '87, a friend of Jackson's at Dartmouth, said.
Jackson has served on the OCBA's Diversity and Equal Justice Committee, the OCBA'S Leadership Task Force and the California State Bar's Ethnic and Minority Relations Committee. She also mentors several college and law school students, including two Dartmouth graduates, according to Crawford.
"I think she's a great role model for those classmates of hers who have decided to work in corporate America," she said. "She's really figured out how to give back."
Jackson's undergraduate years demonstrate her early interest in social justice and talent for leadership, Crawford said. Jackson participated in the government department's off-campus program in Washington, where she mentored youth designated by authorities as "persons in need of supervision," she said.
"Basically, they were kids who were having trouble at home or in school," Crawford said. "They were using illegal substances or not following rules, and we were trying to divert them away from the juvenile court system."
A "heavily involved member" of the Afro-American Society while at Dartmouth, Jackson participated in the global movement for racial equity in South Africa during her college years, Crawford said.
Over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend of 1986, students destroyed shanties erected on the Green in protest of Dartmouth's investment in South Africa, which was under apartheid at the time, Jackson said. To protest the destruction of the shanties, a group of students decided to occupy Parkhurst Hall.
"I remember calling my parents and telling them that I was going to do this, that I might be on national news and that I might be arrested," Jackson said. "They were very supportive."
A moratorium on classes, negotiations and the College's eventual divestment from South Africa ensued, Crawford, who was also involved in the protests, said.
"It was an important part of our Dartmouth experience," Crawford said. "We made history speaking out against injustice."
A founding member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority a now-defunct African-American sorority while on campus, Jackson said she continues to prioritize mentoring and women's issues.
During her OCBA presidency, Jackson said she hopes to start a mentoring network for female lawyers and law students who are either balancing work and family life or considering starting families. The network, "Mommy Esquire," would provide women with information on the best law firms for working mothers, as well as with a supportive group of professional women who could help arrange everything from mentoring to play dates.
As the mother of one toddler and the foster mother and prospective adoptive parent of another toddler, Jackson is a "model" of commitment to family coupled with professional achievement, Murphy said.
Jackson's goals for her presidency also include the incorporation of social media marketing and networking by small law-firms and the revision of the OCBA's strategic plan and long-term goals, she said.
