KANTER/MYERS: THE FUTURE OF RACE/ETHNICITY IN LARGE LAW FIRMS
OF STARTING BLOCKS, HURDLES AND MARATHONS
“OPUS FOUR”
April 7 & 8, 2008
Best New Ideas
April 7, 2008
Firm: Baker Botts
Ideas:
(1) language lessons: offer Spanish language lessons to all employees in all offices
(2) lawyers on campus: have lawyers on campus directly and closely involved with
all the affinity groups
Firm: Debevoise & Plimpton
Ideas:
(1) cross-mentoring program: create a mentoring and training program that pairs
“diversity” attorneys with attorneys who are not from those groups
(2) empowering affinity groups: formalizing and empowering affinity groups of all
kinds to be a part of firm-wide recruiting, retention, attorney development,
decisions on which “diverse” vendors or initiatives to support and what
controversial matters to take on
Firm: Dewey & LeBoef
Ideas:
(1) affinity group expansion: expand affinity group membership to include staff as
well as lawyers
(2) promotion subcommittee: create a sub-committee of the evaluation committee to
meet once per month; to discuss the retention and advancement of “diversity”
attorneys
Firm: Duane Morris
Ideas:
(1) retreat: for “diversity” attorneys
(2) check-in questionnaire: have a questionnaire that’s sent out to “diversity”
associates to get a sense of what’s working and what’s not
(3) annual report on diversity: an annual report on diversity initiatives sent to clients
(4) other committee liaisons: liaisons from the pro bono and women’s committees to
the diversity committee
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Firm: Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Ideas:
(1) three kinds of diversity initiatives: for each subcommittee of the diversity
committee, for each year, there are three planned events: (a) programs that occur
from time to time throughout the year solely for “diverse” attorneys, (b) a
periodic, one-time event solely for “diverse attorneys” and, (c) a one-time event
that invites the whole firm
(2) law school outreach: offer an annual alumni reception for lawyers who attended
historically black law schools like Howard University School of Law
Firm: Perkins Coie
Ideas:
(1) partner coaching program: an 18 month coaching and partner development
program for new “diversity” partners; the program begins with a 2 day retreat
where the plan is developed
(2) women’s retreat: firm retreat for women partners and associates once every two
years; invites practice group leaders and women attorneys and have workshops
for both women attorneys and practice group leaders – separately and together
Firm: Shearman & Sterling
Ideas:
(1) associate mentoring program: an enhancement of the firm’s current associates
mentoring program that’s by associates and for associates; provides personalized
matches, mentor training and follow ups
(2) affinity group leaders: 10 hours of associate coaching on leadership for all
affinity group leaders by outside consultants
Firm: Shook, Hardy & Bacon
Ideas:
(1) diversity newsletter: paper newsletter sent to all firm employees highlighting the
diversity & inclusion initiatives within the firm and outside the firm (clients)
(2) diversity retreat: for ethnically and racially diverse attorneys; included: (a) an
outside consultant who talked about career management, (b) a client panel and (c)
a corporate partner panel
Firm: Sonnenschien, Nath & Rosenthal
Ideas:
(1) diversity book club: have a firm-wide diversity book club open to all employees
in all offices to discuss books from “diverse” authors
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(2) intra-office diversity committee: have a diversity committee in each office of the
firm
(3) laterals as a resource: plumb the experience of “diversity” laterals for ideas on
how to approach retention based on their experiences at prior firms
Firm: Vinson & Elkins
Ideas:
(1) diversity initiative add-ons: build diversity initiatives into already established
firm-wide activities like retreats
(2) mentor mapping: develop and employ a carefully crafted questionnaire to solicit
data (names, characteristics, mentoring structure, etc.) about attorneys who are
mentoring through informal or formal mentoring
Firm: Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Ideas:
(1) class dean program: each associate class has one partner responsible for
developing that class
(2) ongoing evaluations: each supervising attorney must conduct ongoing, immediate
evaluations of supervisees; monitored and considered in supervisors’ periodic
evaluations
Firm: Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Ideas:
(1) upward mentoring: “diverse” associates will be mentoring partners on their
experiences working with them
(2) diversity scorecard: a matrix created to hold partners accountable for their
department leadership on current diversity initiatives; next year there will be a
yearly report card
Firm: Winston & Strawn
Ideas:
(1) personalized mentoring: partner/associate mentoring program; must meet for 2
hours per month; encouraged to meet outside of office; monitored by partner on
executive committee
(2) feedback partners: performance management - assign 2 -3 partners to be
feedback partners for all associates
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April 8, 2008
Firm: Blank & Rome
Ideas:
(1) affinity group support: develop and support internal affinity groups
(2) “Charting Your Own Course”: minorities’ professional development retreat for
“diversity” attorneys
Firm: Bryan Cave
Ideas:
(1) life coach training: life coach certification program for diversity management
through coachinc.com, which has a program that’s certified by International
Coach Federation
(2) across firms collaboration: forming alliances with firms that are already doing
good diversity work and linking in with their initiatives
(3) “Parent Expo”: firm wide expo for all employees providing a variety of
resources and information for parents; for example information on childcare,
summer camps, breastfeeding etc.
Firm: Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Ideas:
(1) working parents group: group for working parents that focuses on the challenges
of being a working parent and is a forum for rolling out working parent related firm
policies
(2) diversity newsletter: newsletter distributed firm-wide to make diversity part of
the fabric of the firm
Firm: King & Spaulding
Ideas:
(1) partner contribution: monitored partner contribution program; all partners
required to contribute 15 hours per year to firm diversity initiatives
(2) associate contribution: include minority associates in law school recruiting from
law school affinity groups
Firm: Milbank Tweed
Ideas:
(1) diversity scholarship program: 15K to 20K per year to second year minority
candidates in summer program
(2) associate mentoring: associate run and driven mentoring programs in each firm
practice group
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Firm: Morrison & Foerster
Ideas:
(1) affinity groups mentoring: program by and for mentoring of “diverse” associates
(2) conference: attorneys of color workshop/conference
Firm: O’Melveny & Myers
Ideas:
(1) partner self reports: diversity as a part of partner self-evaluations and
associate/counsel peer reports
(2) affinity groups: establish a structure whereby affinity groups speak directly with
the leadership about their needs
Firm: Quarles & Brady
Ideas:
(1) enhanced mentoring program: open to all associates – pairing up someone from
the diversity committee with a minority associate; monitor program by getting
statistics from associates on “mentoring hours.”
(2) diversity counsels: one lawyer in each office to serve as diversity counsel;
creating/planning events that enhance diversity climate at firm
Firm: Ropes & Gray
Ideas:
(1) leadership program: launching an associates of color 6 month leadership training
program for up to 15 associates of color
(2) career guidance manager: hired a career guidance manager for all associates in
the Boston and New York offices
Firm: Schulte, Roth & Zabel
Ideas:
(1) on-campus recruiting: partners who are able to attract minority attorneys are
tracked and utilized more heavily in firm's recruitment efforts
(2) diversity speaker series: diversity committee to plan a diversity speaker series
Firm: Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan
Ideas:
(1) “Sutherland Scholars”: program for Atlanta universities’ undergraduates who are
interested in law school; providing a “crash course” on law school classes free of
charge
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(2) practice group diversity partners: an accountability system for all partners to
commit hours to diversity initiatives; diversity partners to commit 150 hours per
year, other partners must commit 50 hours per year
Firm: Venable
Ideas:
(1) evaluations and professional development: have professional development
manager (who is in charge of the firm's diversity efforts) at all associate
evaluations
(2) retention program: create a firm wide program that focuses on retention
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