12 Diversity Obstacles Your Law Firm Faces Over The 12 Days Of Christmas (And Potentially Long After)

Diversity columnist Renwei Chung chats with Meg Sullivan, Corporate Social Responsibility Officer at Paul Hastings.

Meg Sullivan (via Paul Hastings)

Meg Sullivan (via Paul Hastings)

“Jack Frost chilling, the hawk is out / And that’s what Christmas is all about / The time is now, the place is here / And whole wide world is filled with cheer.”Run D.M.C., Christmas in Hollis

According to a new report from Paul Hastings and Bloomberg BNA’s Big Law Business, a substantial majority of attorneys believe that the most prevalent challenge in advancing diversity and inclusion at their law firms is implicit and unconscious bias.

In July, Paul Hastings, in partnership with Bloomberg Law’s Big Law Business, surveyed 261 law firm attorneys and corporate counsel to assess their views and practices regarding diversity and inclusion in the legal industry.

Nearly nine in 10 corporate counsel surveyed had practiced law in a law firm previously— with nearly four in 10 saying they left law firms because of diversity and/or inclusion related reasons, according to the report.

In addition to listing implicit bias as an obstacle to advancing diversity and inclusion efforts, the report outlines fourteen other challenges law firms face. Here are the top twelve deterrents to diversity and inclusion, according to the surveyed attorneys and corporate counsel (with the percentage of respondents indicated parenthetically):

  1. Implicit/unconscious bias (69%)

  2. Lack of diversity on executive committee (48%)

  3. Lack of succession planning for institutional client relationships (46%)

  4. Not getting asked to go on client pitches (45%)

  5. Lack of diversity on compensation committee (41%)

  6. Clients not pushing for diversity (41%)

  7. Not getting enough challenging and stretch opportunities (37%)

  8. Lack of succession planning for leadership (36%)

  9. Confirmation bias (35%)

  10. Not getting assigned to lead roles on cases (34%)

  11. Failure to get critical feedback (33%)

  12. Unfair allocation of origination credit (29%)

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This week, I had the opportunity to catch up with Meg Sullivan, Paul Hastings’s Chief Business Development, Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Officer and Founder of the Quorum Initiative, an international organization focused on accelerating the advancement of executive women in business.

Throughout our conversation, I couldn’t help but notice Sullivan’s vast international experience. Before joining Paul Hastings, Meg was based in Europe for ten years. She was the Director of Marketing for the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region at Andersen, the former global professional services firm. In addition, Meg served as the director of development and export for a major French clothing manufacturer, the director of development for the largest French shoe manufacturer, and the assistant vice president in an American venture capital business. Not surprisingly, she is also fluent in French.

Without further ado, here is a (lightly edited and condensed) write-up of our conversation:

Renwei Chung (RC): This summer, “Corporate Social Responsibility Officer” was added to your official title. Can you tell us what this entails?

Meg Sullivan (MS): I have always been passionate about diversity, inclusion and corporate responsibility. With the addition of CSR to my remit, I now have the opportunity to further embed corporate social responsibility into the business of Paul Hastings.

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We know that corporate social responsibility is not just the right thing to do, but that it’s smart business. I am helping to ensure that we undertake our pro bono, sustainability, charitable, and diversity and inclusion programs, with the same intensity that we bring to our work for clients.

RC: According to your report, the most prevalent challenge in advancing diversity and inclusion at law firms is implicit and unconscious bias. Your report also highlights fourteen another challenges. What are some specific things law firms can do right now to increase diversity and foster a more inclusive culture?

MS: Law firms need to make the business case for diversity and inclusion. We know that diversity and inclusion is not only something that our clients are pushing for, but it is also critical for innovation, and something that helps businesses to succeed.

Law firms need to move from looking at diversity and inclusion as nice to have, to viewing it as a business enabler. That means embedding diversity and inclusion into the business, rather than having it exist in a silo. It means working with the practices on diversity and inclusion goals, programs and recruiting. Cultivating diversity and inclusion needs to be important to everyone at the firm.

RC:  Why should law firms be worried about these issues?

MS: I’d go back to highlighting that diversity and inclusion is smart business. At the end of the day, it’s a bad decision to not focus on diversity and inclusion when we know that diverse perspectives help firms to better serve their clients and drive innovation.

Law firms should do it for themselves, and if that’s not enough to push them, they should be cultivating diversity and inclusion because we know that clients want it. They should be worried because they need diversity to make informed decisions in a changing legal landscape.

RC: Over the next five years, what does success look like for Paul Hastings in this space?

MS: Success would be for diversity and inclusion to be fully integrated into our business. Success would be for all of our people to feel like they can bring their best selves to work, to express their perspectives, and to be a catalyst for change at Paul Hastings.

RC: It was great chatting with you. Is there anything else you would like to share with our audience?

MS: I just wanted to thank Above the Law for casting a spotlight on this important issue and to thank your audience for reading. The more dialogue around these issues, the more possibility for evolution and change. I couldn’t be more optimistic about developments in this space for the future because it makes great business sense.

On behalf of everyone here at Above the Law, I would like to thank Meg Sullivan for sharing her experience and wisdom with our audience. We wish her continued success in her career.

To see the full list of challenges law firms face in advancing diversity and inclusion, be sure check out the Diversity and Inclusion: Annual Report. And if your firm is launching innovative diversity initiatives, please let us know about them.


Renwei Chung is the Diversity Columnist at Above the Law. You can contact Renwei by email at projectrenwei@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter (@renweichung), or connect with him on LinkedIn.