General counsel have trained their sights on law firms when it comes to diversity, demanding to see improvement in the number of minorities among those being elevated to partner or those working on their matters. At the same time, legal departments have their own struggles with diversity, particularly when it comes to the top spot.

Lawyers told The American Lawyer affiliate Corporate Counsel that in-house teams tend to be more diverse than big law firms overall, but that edge wanes when it comes to general counsel roles. In 2018, fewer than 20 percent of Fortune 500 general counsel were people of color and around one-third were women.