Biglaw

Biglaw Firm Introduces 'Diversity Hours' That Count Toward Associate Billable Requirements

This firm is hoping to make diversity in the workplace a reality.

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Year in and year out, we watch law firm after law firm pay lip service to their commitment to diversity in the legal profession, with promises to recruit, retain, and promote more minority attorneys. Despite these continued assurances, and despite the fact that a number of firms have made great efforts to improve the stature of their diverse hires in the law, there is still much more to be done. On the bright side, one firm hopes to make its pledge to increase diversity and inclusion a major priority.

Dorsey & Whitney is hoping to make diversity in the workplace a reality by introducing a new “diversity hours” policy. “We’ve long said that we valued diversity and inclusion,” William Stoeri, the firm’s managing partner, said. “We were looking for a way to reward those who put time and effort toward it.”

The American Lawyer has some additional details on Dorsey’s new policy:

Just as firms often encourage pro bono work by allowing attorneys to record those hours as billable and count toward an annual goal, Dorsey will now allow diversity-related work, activities and training to count toward billable hours requirements.

The policy is retroactive to January of 2019 and includes up to 50 billable hours to be spent on activities such as attending internal and external diversity educational sessions, participating in the firm’s internal affinity groups or representing Dorsey at client-facing diversity events or trainings.

In a statement released by the firm, Stoeri noted that “Dorsey is committed to creating an enduring, more united and more profitable firm by investing and maintaining a culture in which all individuals can thrive and realize their full potential.”

Dorsey was recently ranked in 141st place for Am Law’s 2019 Diversity Scorecard, with just 12.4 percent of its attorneys and 8.8 percent of its partners identifying as minorities. Perhaps the Dorsey’s new “diversity hours” policy will help it get started on the right foot, but Stoeri realizes that it may not happen overnight.

“I want to encourage people to work in this area,” Stoeri said. “There are some things we can do internally, but there are also a lot of deep-seeded issues that we need to address as a society,” he said.

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Best of luck to Dorsey & Whitney in its quest to increase diversity within its ranks and encourage encourage associate participation in diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Diversity Meets the Billable Hour at Dorsey & Whitney [American Lawyer]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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