Improving diversity is the challenge that never goes away for law firms. Six years years ago, Schiff Hardin decided that it needed to bring on a new minority partner, so it set out to woo Patricia Brown Holmes, a Cook County circuit court judge. Several Chicago firms were trying to recruit her. But it was a plea by Ronald Safer, Schiff’s managing partner, that persuaded her to join the firm as a partner in its white-collar crime and corporate compliance and litigation groups.
“Safer’s position was that he not only wanted to recruit diverse associates, he also wanted to raise them up to partner,” says Holmes, who is African American. “Part of the retention issue stemmed from associates lacking role models and mentors at the very top of the partnership ranks. If associates can’t look up and see themselves reflected, then they are going to question whether they will make it to the top.”
