Citing a study (.pdf) that indicates nearly 60 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender law students feel that being “out” would hurt their chances of becoming partner, the Bar Association of San Francisco released a report Tuesday outlining “best practices” (.pdf) for recruiting and retaining LGBT lawyers.
Though many of the recommendations — such as domestic partner benefits and diversity initiatives — are standard fare at many big San Francisco-based firms, at least one is not: BASF said firms should adopt “gross up” pay as part of their domestic partner benefit. The report notes that under federal law, money spent by the firm on a domestic partner’s insurance is reported to the IRS as taxable income.
