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How Attorneys And Law Firms Can ‘Raise The Floor’ For Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In 2017

It is no secret, like the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, the legal profession is facing a diversity crisis.

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Diverse business team teamwork“Never taking summer or fall off / when you stay committed to it / you just fall down and never fall off.” — Big Sean

Last month, Megan Smith and Laura Powers wrote a post for the WhiteHouse Blog, which summarized what they’ve heard and seen work in creating a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable science and technology workforce. They compiled various insights and tips into an Action Grid designed to be a resource for those striving to create better work atmospheres.

It is no secret, like the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, the legal profession is facing a diversity crisis. It is unlikely that diversity statistics for lawyers in 2020 will look much different than diversity figures in 2000. And although Smith’s and Powers’s grid was created for the science and technology workforce to improve their diversity, it can dually-serve as a roadmap for law firms to create more diverse, inclusive, and equitable legal cultures.

Research has shown that diverse groups are more effective at problem solving than homogeneous groups, and policies that promote diversity and inclusion will enhance our ability to draw from the broadest possible pool of talent, solve our toughest challenges, maximize employee engagement and innovation, and lead by example by setting a high standard for providing access to opportunity to all segments of our society. — President Obama, October 5, 2016

Diversity, equity, and inclusion work is not one size fits all. We hope this set of potential actions clustered by leadership engagement, retention and advancement, hiring, and ecosystem support provides ideas and a jumping off point for conversations within your team or organization on steps that you can take to increase diversity and to make your workforce more reflective of the communities you serve, customers you sell to, and talent pools you draw from. — Megan Smith and Laura Powers, November 28, 2016

Smith and Powers focus on leadership, retention and advancement, hiring pathways, and ecosystem support to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion. Here is an extreme cliff-notes version of their Action Grid:

Leadership: Increase leadership engagement of senior and mid-level management.

For leadership, Smith and Powers recommend:

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  •  Creating concrete engagement points for senior leaders
  •  Upgrading mentorship to sponsorship

Retention and Advancement: Improve the retention and upward mobility of diverse talent.

For retention and advancement, Smith and Powers recommend:

  •  Identifying current obstacles
  •  Supporting employee resource groups

Hiring Pathways: Strengthening pathways for candidates into your workforce

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For hiring pathways, Smith and Powers recommend:

  •  Expanding points of entry
  •  Updating candidate screening systems

Ecosystem: Build external constituencies of support

For ecosystem support, Smith and Powers recommend:

  •  Finding allies in the work
  •  Using moments of influence to further the work

If you have a minute, Smith’s and Powers’s post titled, Raising the Floor: Sharing What Works in Workplace Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, is well worth reading. None of these tips are overly complicated or difficult to implement, but they aren’t necessarily easy either. Change is hard. But we must accept that the last two decades have yielded little improvement for diversity figures in the legal profession.

Many people and organizations will make New Year’s resolutions this week, only to give up on them several weeks later. But some people and organizations find a way to commit to their goals and hold themselves and others accountable over the long term. Because they know, as Albert Einstein famously quipped, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

What will you and your law firm do different in 2017 to raise the floor in the legal profession?

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.

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