General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Minority Issues

GCs Back New Initiative To Bring Diversity To The Legal Profession; Will It Make An Impact?

We've seen various diversity initiatives fail over the years, but this latest one is specific, concrete, and promising.

By  
on

diversity diverse minority race happy young lawyers“Funny it seems / But by keeping its dreams / it learned to breathe fresh air.” — Tupac

Last month in San Francisco, the ABA’s House of Delegates passed Resolution 113, which calls on clients to direct a greater percentage of the legal services they purchase to diverse attorneys. Last week, two dozen attorneys from Fortune 1000 companies — including McDonald’s, CBS Corporation, Verizon, and TIAA-CREF — signed a letter pledging to uphold Resolution 113, as noted by Bloomberg Law’s Meredith Mandell.

I am hopeful this initiative can make an impact. The past isn’t necessarily indicative of the future. But we have seen ambitious initiatives by general counsels (GCs) in the past fail to bring about change in a profession that remains obstinate. Nevertheless, I remain optimistic that this renewed effort will have enough teeth to take a bite out of the status quo. And I’m elated GCs, with a ton on their plate already, are making diversity and inclusion a priority.

In 1999, Charles Morgan, then GC of BellSouth Corp., led a prominent group of approximately 500 general counsel to affirm the objective of promoting diversity in the workplace. As put by Diversity in the Workplace: A Statement of Principle, “In making our respective decisions concerning selection of outside counsel, we will give significant weight to a firm’s commitment and progress in this area.”

In the ABA Publication More than Words — Update on Diversity in the Workplace: A Statement of Principle, Charles S. Johnson, III and Lynne Faith Saunders wrote, “Morgan’s father was one of the first to hire minorities at BellSouth and he passed this commitment to diversity on to his son. When Morgan joined BellSouth, in 1998, he found a law department with an excellent group of attorneys, but he felt the need to build a more diverse department. He first established a committee to explore all aspects of diversity.” As a profession, how far have we come since Morgan’s initiative?

In 2004, Rick Palmore authored a manifesto titled, “A Call to Action: Diversity in the Legal Profession,” which pledged to make diversity a factor in choosing which firms to hire as outside counsel, as highlighted by Claire Bushey of Crain’s Chicago Business. Molly McDonough of the ABA Journal also did a great job of covering this.

It was a pledge that more than 120 general counsels ultimately made. Palmore’s Call to Action began with these words:

Sponsored

In 1999, the Chief Legal Officers of about 500 major corporations signed a document entitled Diversity in the Workplace – A Statement of Principle. In particular, it was intended to be a mandate for law firms to make immediate and sustained improvement in this area. Unfortunately, however, all objective assessments show that the collective efforts and gain of law firms in diversity have reached a disappointing plateau.

As I have previously mentioned, Palmore’s declaration was meant to renew the commitment of the signatory corporations to diversity in the legal profession. This Call to Action serves as a pledge for corporations to choose law firms based in significant part on the diversity performance of the firms.

It was meant for corporations to discover opportunities for firms that positively distinguish themselves in the area of diversity. Palmore’s creed ends with the line: “We further intend to end or limit our relationships with firms whose performance consistently evidences a lack of meaningful interest in being diverse.”

A lot has changed since Palmore’s pledge, but a lot has stayed the same. The legal profession still faces a diversity crisis.

In a previous column, I had asked the former Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) President, Joseph West, his advice on how lawyers and law firms can increase diversity in our profession. He responded:

Sponsored

Two things:

First, firms should model client behavior: in corporate law departments there’s a premium placed on collaboration, on retention, on talent development and on succession planning. A greater focus in these areas should help with retention of diverse and, in fact, all talent.

Second, since we know all humans have biases and that all firms are run by humans, we should determine where these biases are having unintended (or even intended) impact on diverse lawyers.

There is obviously no silver bullet when it comes to the legal industry’s struggle with diversity and inclusion, but West’s two points of emphasis are a great place to start. Where else should we begin? We need data.

In last week’s letter, the two dozen attorneys wrote:

We believe that as buyers of legal resources, we are in the best position to drive the changes necessary to dramatically improve diversity at all levels in the law firms that provide us with legal services. … Simply put – performance transparency will make for more rational and better buying decisions. As Justice Brandeis said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” But this transparency of data will only be valuable if a significant portion of the Fortune 1000 companies request it.

In their call to action, they request for companies to employ a Model Diversity Survey, which “will enable [them] to measure the effectiveness of diversity and inclusion in the legal teams that they engage.” As noted in their letter:

The ABA Model Survey will allow clients to gather diversity data from law firms that are uniform and consistent, and not based just on anecdotal brochures. Uniformity of data will allow for: (1) uniform measurement and comparison; (2) better business decisions by clients and law firms; and (3) reduction in the time, cost and burden for legal professionals to respond to myriad and voluminous requests for diversity data.

While it is true we have witnessed various diversity and inclusion pledges and initiatives fail over the last three decades, this is one of the most specific, concrete, and tangible pledges I have read. Will it ultimately improve diversity and inclusion in our profession? I can’t say for sure, but I’ve never been more optimistic about the possibility for change, and I think you should be hopeful as well.

At the end of the day, I absolutely agree with last week’s letter — GCs are in one of the best positions to drive the changes necessary to dramatically improve diversity at all levels in the law firms that provide us with legal services.

Rest in peace to my dear old friend Howard Franklin, who passed away from cancer on Sunday.

Renwei Chung is passionate about writing, technology, psychology, and economics. You can contact Renwei by email at projectrenwei@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter (@renweichung), or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Topics

, , , , , , , , ,