Over the past decade, diversity efforts across the legal profession have burgeoned as research demonstrates that organizations with inclusive cultures have higher profitability than those without. Nearly every major law firm has committed hundreds of thousands (and for some, millions) of dollars on strategy efforts ranging from diversity committees charged with recruiting diverse talent to pipeline programs that target diverse students looking to start a legal career. National and local resource groups such as the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, the National LGBT Bar Association, and the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group have also worked alongside legal employers to advance diversity and inclusion across the profession. Why is it then that, despite diversity efforts being a top priority, the legal profession continues to lag desperately behind others in cultivating inclusive work environments? Even more troubling, why are diverse attorneys nearly absent from the top rungs of the legal profession’s opportunity ladder?
While the answers to both questions are too complex to fully address in this column, both queries highlight the daunting challenge of retaining diverse attorneys in legal organizations. Beyond surface-level initiatives that primarily focus on recruitment and hiring, few substantive resources exist for assisting diverse attorneys with ascending to partnership and senior-level positions. And while recruitment and hiring initiatives have resulted in increased rates of diverse attorneys entering law firms and legal departments, such progress is somewhat elusive as diverse attorneys continue to leave their organizations at disproportionate rates and are less likely to be promoted.
