Identifying Diverse Law Firms
The law department should collect from its majority-owned firms their data for the attorneys in each category of diversity in the law department’s diversity program, including:
- Percentages of:
- firm attorneys;
- partners;
- equity partners;
- non-equity partners;
- counsel and non-partner track attorneys;
- associates;
- incoming classes of associates and their rates of progression through the firm’s partnership process relative to non-diverse associates;
- partners leading practice groups; and
- partners serving on firm management, compensation, and other leadership committees
- Hourly rates, including how those rates compare to similarly situated and qualified non-diverse attorneys.
- Compensation statistics, including gender and minority pay-gap information
- Number of hours spent on the organization’s legal matters, including hours spent on substantive tasks, to confirm that diverse attorneys are performing meaningful work for the organization
The law department should collect additional data from its majority-owned firms to supplement the information on the firms’ diverse attorneys, including information regarding the firms’:
- Publicly available D&I statements.
- Commitments to and performance against external diversity benchmarks, such as:
- the Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule 3.0; and
- American Bar Association (ABA) Resolution 113: Promoting Diversity in the Legal Profession.
- Internal D&I policies and performance against those policies, including the firms’ commitments to:
- hire, retain, and promote diverse attorneys;
- eliminate any gender or diversity pay gaps; and
- encourage diversity within its service suppliers
- Support for the firms’ affinity groups, also known as employee resource groups, which are employee groups organized based on social identity, shared characteristics, or life experiences.
- Training and education programs for other firm attorneys to:
- encourage their support for the firms’ diversity initiatives; and
- identify and avoid unconscious bias
- Personnel assigned to manage the firms’ D&I initiatives
- Strategic growth plans and the contributions to those plans the firms’ D&I goals are expected to make
- Committees responsible for implementing the firms’ D&I policies, including the committees’:
- members;
- mission statements;
- levels of authority;
- action plans; and
- results against specific diversity targets.
- Recruiting at non-traditional law schools.
- Participation in diversity initiatives, including:
- apprenticeships, internships, and fellowships;
- partnering with clients’ diversity activities; and
- supporting bar association programs
The law department should also collect information from minority-owned law firms, including confirming that the law firms are certified as minority-owned by third-party organizations, including:
- The National Association of Minority and Women-Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF).
- The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
- The National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC).
- The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). The law department can collect diversity data about each law firm by:
- Interviewing the firm’s:
- attorneys; and
- staff members responsible for implementing the firm’s diversity programs
- Considering the firm’s:
- publicly available information; and
- internal D&I policies.
- Reviewing the firm’s responses to:
- the ABA Model Diversity Survey, which collects data from law firms on their D&I practices; or
- surveys designed and conducted by the law department
- Reviewing publicly reported diversity data collected by organizations such as:
- The National Association for Law Placement (NALP);
- The Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA); and
- The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC).
- Conferring with the law firm’s other clients
- Researching the law firm’s certifications by third parties
The law department should periodically refresh the diversity data it collects about its firms to ensure that data remains accurate and up-to-date.