It's not easy being a young attorney of a diverse background. Much like Rocky was an underdog fighter with hopes of making it in the boxing world without much support, so too do many minority attorneys struggle to find their place in the legal market today.

Since I began law school about a decade ago, diversity has been a hot topic among law firms and legal departments. Partially in response to a demand for diversity by clients in corporate America and partially recognizing the benefits of diversity themselves, more law firms have been investing in diversity initiatives. Many law firms, for example, participate in diversity job fairs for the opportunity to recruit minority and other diverse students. It was through one of these job fairs that I interviewed with Conrad O'Brien and hired as a summer associate. I was ultimately offered a full-time position, which I accepted, and I remain with Conrad O'Brien today, more than eight years later. But my experience is not typical.

Indeed, despite the efforts of law firms to recruit attorneys with diverse backgrounds, many firms continue to struggle to retain those attorneys, especially at the partner level. According to the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), black attorneys in 2017 only made up 1.8 percent of law firm partners. Asian, Latino and minority women attorneys do not fair much better, representing only 3.3 percent, 2.4 percent and 2.9 percent of law firm partners, respectively. Numerous articles have been written on what firms can do to help retain attorneys with diverse backgrounds, including a focus on how work is assigned, the evaluation process and the implementation of mentoring programs. While all of these steps can certainly help, I believe that the single most important reason why I remain at Conrad O'Brien and why I have been successful here is the firm's culture.