What needs to change in law firms’ diversity and inclusion efforts

In Episode 2 of The Advisory Board, Jake Heller met with Wendell Taylor of Hunton Andrews Kurth, Cindy-Ann Thomas of Littler, and Lois Durant of Sheppard Mullin to learn more about the legal industry’s role in combating systemic racism. George Floyd’s death has caused a shift in the law firms’ conversations about diversity and inclusion. Jake wanted to know: with those conversations in mind, what do law firms need to change? 

Move away from “tried-and-true” methods

When it comes to putting diversity into practice, law firms need to move away from “tried-and-true” methods — something that may feel unnatural for a profession rooted in precedent. “If we want something different, we’re going to have to do something different,” Cindy Ann says. “We simply have to explore less supposedly tried-and-true methods of recruiting, hiring, mentoring, networking, allocating work.” 

Cindy Ann uses law firm “refer a friend” recruiting programs as an example, pointing to a 2014 study that found that the social circles of 90% of white Americans are comprised of other white people; only 5% of white Americans have friends of other races. With these statistics in mind, it is apparent how “refer a friend” programs can work against law firms’ efforts to improve diversity in hiring. 

Be honest about how implicit bias affects law firm processes 

Wendell adds that firms need to continue addressing implicit bias and how it impacts processes within a law firm. He encourages lawyers and law firms to be more honest about how implicit biases affect them: “When I watch a boxing match and it’s a white guy fighting a black guy, I reflexively pull for the black guy. I think we should all be honest that those are things we do, and we can take the sting away from it.” 

As an example of the ways that implicit bias affects law firms efforts to drive diversity, Wendell points to the way firms consider “fit” in the hiring process, which often reflects the biases of whoever is assessing a potential new hire. “It’s up to us to realize that part of what they’re saying is, ‘That person looks like me and belongs to the clubs I belong to,’ and therefore we need to pull away from that,” he says. 

Listen to clients, but don’t focus exclusively on external pressures

“What’s really helping to change this conversation are clients that are really pushing us in the right direction,” Wendell says. Clients advocate for diversity in the firms that represent them, not just by asking them to stop bringing exclusively white men to pitches, but also by making sure that minorities and women are actually working on their matters and getting credit for the work they do. 

But as Lois points out, there is also a danger in law firms relying on external pressures — such as industry organizations, surveys, and recruiting, as well as clients — which eliminates the attention that law firms pay to the diversity of their staff. 

“I get it; the lawyers are the foundation of the business,” she says, “but if we’re going to start talking about creating inclusive communities, we have to expand the conversation beyond talking about just attorneys.” 

Hire chief diversity officers, but make sure diversity issues are understood across law firm functions

Another critical measure that Cindy Ann recommends law firms consider when it comes to accountability is a dedicated diversity officer to provide leadership for lawyers. “Committees of passionate, philanthropic attorneys who have 2,000 hours/year billable requirements cannot possibly do their job effectively and take your firm to the next level in the diversity and inclusion space if you are really looking to go to another level,” she says. 

Although Lois agrees with Cindy Ann on the importance of a diversity and inclusion officer, she cautions that law firms need to ensure that diversity is being considered across functions within law firms. “It can’t just be your one diversity person running around in circles trying to figure it out for everyone. We need to be demanding a level of expertise and awareness around diversity issues across all these functions where folks can do it without having your diversity person in the room.” 

***

For more on Wendell, Cindy-Ann, and Lois’s discussion about what the legal industry should be doing to combat systemic racism, click here to watch episode 2 of The Advisory Board

You can also sign up for an email reminder for Episode 4 here.

Featured posts

© 2024 Casetext Inc., a part of Thomson Reuters
Casetext, part of Thomson Reuters are not a law firm and do not provide legal advice.
Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information/Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information

Draft Correspondence

Rapidly draft common legal letters and emails.

How this skill works

  • Specify the recipient, topic, and tone of the correspondence you want.

  • CoCounsel will produce a draft.

  • Chat back and forth with CoCounsel to edit the draft.

Review Documents

Get answers to your research questions, with explanations and supporting sources.

How this skill works

  • Enter a question or issue, along with relevant facts such as jurisdiction, area of law, etc.

  • CoCounsel will retrieve relevant legal resources and provide an answer with explanation and supporting sources.

  • Behind the scenes, Conduct Research generates multiple queries using keyword search, terms and connectors, boolean, and Parallel Search to identify the on-point case law, statutes, and regulations, reads and analyzes the search results, and outputs a summary of its findings (i.e. an answer to the question), along with the supporting sources and applicable excerpts.

Legal Research Memo

Get answers to your research questions, with explanations and supporting sources.

How this skill works

  • Enter a question or issue, along with relevant facts such as jurisdiction, area of law, etc.

  • CoCounsel will retrieve relevant legal resources and provide an answer with explanation and supporting sources.

  • Behind the scenes, Conduct Research generates multiple queries using keyword search, terms and connectors, boolean, and Parallel Search to identify the on-point case law, statutes, and regulations, reads and analyzes the search results, and outputs a summary of its findings (i.e. an answer to the question), along with the supporting sources and applicable excerpts.

Prepare for a Deposition

Get a thorough deposition outline in no time, just by describing the deponent and what’s at issue.

How this skill works

  • Describe the deponent and what’s at issue in the case, and CoCounsel identifies multiple highly relevant topics to address in the deposition and drafts questions for each topic.

  • Refine topics by including specific areas of interest and get a thorough deposition outline.

Extract Contract Data

Ask questions of contracts that are analyzed in a line-by-line review

How this skill works

  • Allows the user to upload a set of contracts and a set of questions

  • This skill will provide an answer to those questions for each contract, or, if the question is not relevant to the contract, provide that information as well

  • Upload up to 10 contracts at once

  • Ask up to 10 questions of each contract

  • Relevant results will hyperlink to identified passages in the corresponding contract

Contract Policy Compliance

Get a list of all parts of a set of contracts that don’t comply with a set of policies.

How this skill works

  • Upload a set of contracts and then describe a policy or set of policies that the contracts should comply with, e.g. "contracts must contain a right to injunctive relief, not merely the right to seek injunctive relief."

  • CoCounsel will review your contracts and identify any contractual clauses relevant to the policy or policies you specified.

  • If there is any conflict between a contractual clause and a policy you described, CoCounsel will recommend a revised clause that complies with the relevant policy. It will also identify the risks presented by a clause that does not conform to the policy you described.

Summarize

Get an overview of any document in straightforward, everyday language.

How this skill works

  • Upload a document–e.g. a legal memorandum, judicial opinion, or contract.

  • CoCounsel will summarize the document using everyday terminology.

Search a Database

Find all instances of relevant information in a database of documents.

How this skill works

  • Select a database and describe what you're looking for in detail, such as templates and precedents to use as a starting point for drafting documents, or specific clauses and provisions you'd like to include in new documents you're working on.

  • CoCounsel identifies and delivers every instance of what you're searching for, citing sources in the database for each instance.

  • Behind the scenes, CoCounsel generates multiple queries using keyword search, terms and connectors, boolean, and Parallel Search to identifiy the on-point passages from every document in the database, reads and analyzes the search results, and outputs a summary of its findings (i.e. an answer to the question), citing applicable excerpts in specific documents.

Skills

UNIVERSAL
Search a Database

Find all instances of relevant information in a database of documents.

Summarize

Get an overview of any document in straightforward, everyday language.

Draft Correspondence

Rapidly draft common legal letters and emails.

TRANSACTIONAL
Contract Policy Compliance

Get a list of all parts of a set of contracts that don’t comply with a set of policies.

Extract Contract Data

Ask questions of contracts that are analyzed in a line-by-line review

Prepare for a Deposition

Get a thorough deposition outline by describing the deponent and what’s at issue.

LITIGATION
Legal Research Memo

Get answers to your research questions, with explanations and supporting sources.

Review Documents

Get comprehensive answers to your questions about a set of documents.