The pandemic in our new world of remote virtual lawyering is causing law firms to become more introspective and to review their hiring needs, as well as the amount of office space required to practice efficiently. This presents an opportunity for law firms to concomitantly look afresh at how they address diversity and inclusion.

The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) recently approved a report titled “The Time is Now: Achieving Equality for Women Attorneys in the Courtroom and in ADR” that came from its Commercial and Federal Litigation Section (ComFed). It found that major gender disparities persist in courtrooms throughout the state. The report, based on questionnaires answered by New York state and federal judges, documented the gender of lawyers who appeared before them. It was built on a similar survey that was the predicate for the precedent-setting 2017 ComFed report “If Not Now When?” adopted by both NYSBA and the American Bar Association, which empirically documented that women attorneys were significantly underrepresented as lead counsel in litigation.