Realizing it was time to expand her push for diversity beyond the walls of AbbVie Inc., the biopharma company’s top lawyer, Laura Schumacher, began working with her team to develop new diversity and inclusion goals for outside counsel.

The effort would become known as the “Diversity in Law” program, which officially launched in 2018. Under the five-year initiative, AbbVie’s outside law firms were expected to staff the company’s legal matters with at least 50% underrepresented lawyers and 50% female partners. The firms also have to increase minority partner representation from 8% to at least 15% by 2023.