Life continually throws us lemons. The legal profession is tasked with delivering on making things better, i.e. making lemonade. Whether resolving disputes between individuals and groups not seeing eye-to-eye, setting order to chaotic activities and events, or working fervently to bolster and uphold the rule of law, legal professionals today should most certainly be looking to embody DEIB. The continual politicized attacks on DEI, and consequently DEIB, have not subsided. Instead, the attacks have increased and are at the forefront of today’s political divide. As the impact of this divisive campaign roils, the time to truly lean into DEIB has not been riper for legal professionals.
A key part of the ABA Law Practice Division DEIB Committee’s mission, besides positively promoting the concept among members in their practices, is to examine the state of DEIB within the Division and provide disruption of those practices that do not lead to more diversity, equity, inclusion or belonging. Simply put, this mission directive provides an opportunity for the Division and its members to assess and improve its DEIB practices. This is no different from the first step that can be taken in any other professional legal setting. Here is an examination of DEIB for the legal profession and steps to help lean into DEIB despite its unfortunate negative characterization.
Look around to assess the state of groups and individuals you have in your practice – or Division. Have diverse leaders and members emerged? Who is around your “table”? What do they look like? If everyone is familiar and there are no differing voices or viewpoints, there is likely much more work to do on leaning into diversity. Seek to contact diverse groups or individuals for key projects and initiatives to gain the evidenced benefits of diversity. In fact, using “labels” can help you identify where you should work to become more diverse. Labels beyond those of ethnicity, gender, and disability status can be useful in helping realize where you may need to do more work on diversity.
Equity in its purest form is just being fair. Ensuring that those in your working environment have been given all they need to succeed regardless of who they are or what their needs for success are. Make resources and opportunities evenly and work to promote using as many objective criteria as possible. Lean in by again assessing your status quo and planning to make resources and opportunities available evenly. Do members of your team or group have access to resources in the same way, at the same time, and at the same levels? Are policies and procedures managed in the same way regardless of who is to follow them? In equity practice, using data points can be helpful. Assigning point systems or scoring ranges on projects and criteria can help keep objectivity at the center of decision-making.
Inclusiveness is the action of making things accessible while being both diverse and fair. Inviting in differing voices and viewpoints and ensuring their chairs at the table are the same as others are steps toward inclusiveness. Lean into having spaces where safety and openness are at the forefront of delivering on projects and initiatives. The step can involve seeing if those diverse voices and viewpoints have been raised and heard. Does a leader need to call on a lesser-heard voice? Does a leader need to specifically address a group or class of individuals whose contributions have not been selected or given space previously? Having a rotation of the various roles and responsibilities among groups can help with inclusivity. Everyone can take a turn leading a meeting or heading up a project.
Belonging transfers the power of DEI to an individual’s inner feeling about being in a group or on a team. It is how one feels about being and what they are doing at the table. Belonging exists where one has been invited, welcomed, and heard. It is shown in the comfort and ease with which one feels they are a part of a team or group and where one does not have concerns with being and staying there. Belonging is accomplished without any strong or forced effort. It does not mean there are no opposing thoughts or ideas from others. In fact, there might even be controversy, but the space is felt to be one where, despite this, one is assured their voice is heard and ideas both respected and recognized. Ask if everyone agrees, and if so, why, and if not, why not. Look for standard ways to reach common ground and to ensure ideas whose times have not yet come are memorialized and held in regard when reasonable.
The benefits from embodying DEIB instead of ignoring or doing away with it in your practice can position you to reap many positive benefits. Such benefits are rarely, if ever, attained in a monolithic and closed-practice universe. Negative and disparaging politicized treatment of DEIB aside, improving work relations and conditions using DEIB principles increases the likelihood of better business outcomes. DEIB principles are an important means to practice improvement. Improvements come with developing and sharing better ideas and in attaining more robust practice goals. It is also realized through the delivery of higher financial and practice impact returns. These positive professional legal business results can be realized when one engages in the practice of leaning into DEIB and attempting to embody it and not snubbing or running away from it. It’s like making lemonade in your legal practice or group.
The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author and are not official policy positions of the American Bar Association.
