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Firms, GCs Will Huddle to Discuss Diversity and Work/Life Balance
The National Law Journal
March 24, 2009
Image: Photodisc Green
Later this month, leaders from a dozen law firms will sit down in Chicago with a dozen general counsel from major U.S. companies to discuss two issues that have long plagued law firms: lack of diversity and lack of work/life balance.
The meeting will be the first of the Diversity and Flexibility Connection -- an initiative spearheaded by the Project for Attorney Retention. The idea behind the initiative is that diversity and work/life balance should not be treated as two independent issues, as they commonly are. The participants will hold two meetings to develop a list of best practices that promote both diversity and work/life balance among attorneys. The group will also develop a system to weigh how effective those best practices are.
The firms participating the program are Arnold & Porter; Crowell & Moring; Dickstein Shapiro; DLA Piper; Farella Braun & Martel; Fenwick & West; Fulbright & Jaworski; Gibbons; Morrison & Foerster; Schiff Hardin; Sidley Austin; and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.
The participating general counsel come from various industries and include representatives of The Coca-Cola Co., Macy's Inc., E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., Shell Oil Co., General Mills Inc., The Allstate Corp., United Parcel Service Inc., Del Monte Foods Inc., Accenture Ltd., The Clorox Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and The Timberland Co.
The group's task will not be easy, considering that many law firms have focused their diversity efforts squarely on race, while work/life balance issues have been focused on women. The project's organizers have argued that diversity initiatives will not be successful unless they incorporate flexible work schedules, since many women leave firms because they don't have enough work flexibility.
The program, part of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, advocates for reduced hours as a way for law firms to retain attorneys, particularly women and minorities.
Its initiative is intended to carry forward the idea behind the Call to Action -- the 2004 document calling for more diversity in the legal profession -- that nearly all Fortune 500 companies have signed.
The recommendations from the initial phase of the Diversity and Flexibility Connection are expected in the fall. A subsequent phase of the initiative will focus on how firms should implement the suggested best practices established in the first phase.
