Earlier this year, over 150 corporate general counsel and chief legal officers signed on to an open letter directed to law firms. That letter voices frustration over the lack of promotions and advancement of diverse associates and partners within large law firms. It also threatens to move substantial business to law firms with more diversity in their ranks. However, whether it ultimately moves the dial depends on what steps corporations and the firms that represent them take to translate these beliefs into action. We propose the following simple (if not necessarily easy to implement) perspective on what those next steps require.

The development and advancement of associates to partner, and partners within the partnership, boils down to just a few factors: increasing opportunities to lead client relationships, obtain origination credits and work on matters of significance. Unfortunately, addressing these issues may carry both perceived financial and political consequences by disrupting an established workflow or firm hierarchy, and concerns about business interruption from the perspective of clients who have enjoyed satisfactory representation and long-standing relationships with a firm’s nondiverse partners.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]