When legal departments began working from home, many feared that diversity and inclusion would take a backseat. In fact, Joel Stern, CEO of the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms, emphasized the importance of pushing forward with those efforts during the pandemic. 

“You don’t want the hard work of many to be erased by this pandemic. We do not want to see smaller law firms, which are disproportionately minority- and women-owned, go by the wayside. We don’t want to see law firms get rid of the programs that benefited minorities and women,” Stern said in an interview with Corporate Counsel in March.