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Survey Shows Diversity Lacking at Pa. Plaintiffs Firms
The Legal Intelligencer
June 14, 2007
(Editor's note: This is the first of two parts on diversity at plaintiffs firms.)
Diversity among attorneys at plaintiffs firms in Pennsylvania is slim to nonexistent, research by The Legal Intelligencer has found.
Despite increased emphasis on recruiting minority and female attorneys, plaintiffs firms in the commonwealth remain predominately the arenas of white men.
The Legal Intelligencer compiled diversity statistics on most of the major plaintiffs firms in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh after talking to recruiters and industry experts. While by no means an exhaustive list, the data provides insight into the state of diversity at plaintiffs firms in Pennsylvania.
The survey included plaintiffs firms ranging in size from big hitters Kline & Specter and Anapol Schwartz to smaller firms like Berger & Green in Pittsburgh and Ross Feller Casey in Philadelphia.
Out of 301 attorneys accounted for in the survey, eight attorneys were racial or ethnic minorities -- less than 3 percent.
Of the 24 plaintiffs firms The Legal Intelligencer surveyed, 17 had no attorneys who were a racial or ethnic minority, and the few firms that did have attorneys of color usually had only one.
The percentage of women attorneys overall was about 23 percent -- 70 out of 301 attorneys. There were only eight firms where women made up more than 30 percent of their firms' attorneys.
But the difference in the percentage of women attorneys varied widely from 50 percent to zero. Five firms had no female attorneys.
The statistics were collected by taking information from plaintiffs firms' Web sites, which was put forward to the firms for confirmation. To the degree that it could be compared, information in the 2006 PaLAW mirrored the findings.
Altman Weil principal Virginia Grant Essandoh said the numbers compiled by The Legal Intelligencer surprised her, though maybe they shouldn't have.
Essandoh said she thought plaintiffs work was highly dependent on referral relationships, which she said she thought provided an incentive to have a diverse set of lawyers.
"In terms of marketing and business development across the community, I'd think they would want to be in all neighborhoods and cast their net as widely as possible," Essandoh said. "These plaintiffs are choosing lawyers based on how they connect at that initial meeting. Corporate clients may ... care most about results, but it seems to me that plaintiffs are looking for that relationship."
And Essandoh said, people often relate best to those with similar backgrounds.
Joe Tucker, name partner at minority law firm Booth & Tucker, said the lack of diversity among plaintiffs firms was a problem because the firms didn't come "in any way close" to representing their client population.
"It seems as though most of the focus of the bar on diversity has been at big firms," Tucker said. "I think the personal injury bar has gotten a pass for some reason in its hiring."
"It seems sometimes that the causes [plaintiffs firms] stand for make them stand for diversity, but their actions are lacking," Tucker said.
FIRM LEADERS RESPOND
Plaintiffs firm leaders who spoke to The Legal Intelligencer had thoughts and explanations on the topic that were, well, diverse.
Though many firm leaders extolled the benefits of a diverse group of attorneys, fewer said they were interested in specifically recruiting a minority attorney, and fewer still could name a single diversity initiative their firm had undertaken.
Alan Feldman, founding partner of Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner & Weinstock, said diversity had been a particular challenge for small firms like plaintiffs firms.
"We have a long way to go, there's no question about it," Feldman said. "We're sensitive to the issue. We'd desire more minority attorneys and staff, and we will continue to look for them."
Three of Feldman Shepherd's 16 attorneys are women, Feldman said, and the firm has one Asian attorney.
Tom Kline, of Kline & Specter, said the recruitment process partially explained lower levels of diversity among the plaintiffs bar.
"In the absence of a formalized recruitment program, the mix of lawyers in plaintiffs firms is a much more informal process, which is less structured and less disciplined than in large firms," Kline said.
Kline said that Kline & Specter was conscious of the need to seek out and recruit "quality lawyers who will add depth and diversity."
Kline & Specter has paid particular attention to developing female trial attorneys -- of the firm's 29 attorneys, nine are women, Kline said. One attorney is a black male.
Joel Feldman, managing partner of Anapol Schwartz, also discussed recruitment methods.
Part of the reason plaintiffs firms aren't hiring minorities is because when an opening becomes available, the firm often already knows a person who could fill it, he said.
Feldman said Anapol Schwartz recently had an Asian attorney leave, and a white man "happened to be the perfect fit." That situation, he said, perpetuates the norm.
"It's like if someone has a house, and someone [else] knows the owner and buys it before it gets listed," Feldman said. "It's really great for the people who know about the listing before it goes up, but not so great for people who never know."
Anapol Schwartz has 28 attorneys, six of whom are women. Two of the firm's attorneys are African-American.
Mark Levy, of Levy Angstreich Finney Baldante Rubenstein & Coren, said his firm didn't focus on race or gender when hiring new attorneys.
Levy Angstreich has 15 attorneys, four of whom are women and no minorities.
Levy said he did think minority attorneys could open up new business avenues, but that his firm did not expect new attorneys to attract business.
"In our firm if you have a good résumé, we generally don't look to gender or race to get business and wouldn't go out of the way to hire [minorities] because I don't think new attorneys bring in business anyway," Levy said.
Alan Perer, senior partner at Swensen Perer & Kontos in Pittsburgh, said his firm reviewed 10 to 15 law clerks each summer, but did not ask for a certain number of women or minority candidates from the law schools that provide them.
"We just go through the best candidates and do the hiring that way," Perer said.
And Perer said he couldn't recall the topic of diversity coming up at a Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association meeting.
Swenson Perer has six attorneys, two of whom are women and has no minority attorneys.
"I don't think it's an issue that's a problem," Perer said. "Plaintiffs firms would have no hesitation to hire a minority candidate."
Peter Villari, founding partner of Villari Brandes & Kline in Conshohocken, Pa., said his firm had hired its first female attorney five years ago and had since made an effort to recruit more women.
Villari Brandes currently has four female attorneys out of nine total. The firm has no minority attorneys.
"We've got a diverse client base and we've got to deal with it," Villari said.
He said having female attorneys had provided valuable insight into how female jurors think and that minority perspectives would be valuable too.
But Villari said when the firm had recently advertised for attorneys, it didn't get any applications from Hispanic, African-American or Asian attorneys.
He said he wasn't sure what the reason was, though he thought salary was part of it.
"Lots of people don't look at plaintiffs work first -- they look to the Blank Romes and the Ballard Spahrs," Villari said. "We can't offer those salaries."
Alan Feldman of Feldman Shepherd agreed that the salary differential was a detriment to hiring minority attorneys.
"Super qualified minority attorneys are going to bigger firms that can pay what we can't pay. And that chasm is just getting larger," Feldman said, adding later, "We'd stand on our heads to welcome minority attorneys ... that want to join a firm like ours."
Part two will examine recruiting tactics at plaintiffs firms.
