In-House Counsel

Diverse commentary on this blog regarding diversity

By Rees Morrison

A number of posts ? 29 by my count ? have dealt with aspects of diversity in law departments.

As a descriptive term, diversity takes on many hues (See my posts of Sept. 4, 2005: defining a diverse lawyer; Sept. 4, 2006: minority counsel distinguished from diverse counsel; and Dec. 4, 2005: diversity aims less at women, more at minorities.).

Diversity has value in areas other than protected classifications (See my posts of Jan. 20, 2006: cognitive style diversity more important than demographic diversity; Aug. 26, 2006: international and linguistic diversity; and Jan. 6, 2006: social network compared to demographic diversity.).

Some law departments try to increase diversity among their law firms (See my posts of Dec. 21, 2005: how far law departments influence management decisions of their key firms; April 4, 2006: GE collects diversity metrics from its law firms; July 25, 2007 #3: collecting diversity data through e-billing may discriminate; March 17, 2006: do as I say, not as I do on diversity; Feb. 24, 2007 #4: if a law department can?t shift toward diversity, it shouldn?t force law firms; Oct. 18, 2006: diversity numbers half empty or half full; and Dec. 12, 2006: majority- and minority-controlled firms.).

Public calls to by leading general counsel to increase diversity has been recurrent (See my posts of July 17, 2007: why hasn?t the diversity Call to Action succeeded more; March 23, 2008: a renewal conference; Nov. 13, 2005: South African requirements for legal diversity; and May 28, 2007: the most diverse in-house law department in corporate America.).

In response, law departments are concerned about how to recruit diverse lawyers (See my posts of Nov. 18, 2007 #2: job fairs to attract minority candidates; and Feb. 17, 2008: law department and firm offer a joint program for diverse summer associates.). Managers in law departments can take many actions to help diversity take root (See my posts of May 7, 2006: nine diversity tools from GE for legal department; Sept. 4, 2006: best practices in diversity; Oct. 16, 2006: to foster diversity, follow three steps; and July 6, 2007: diversity training.).

Still, success comes slowly (See my posts of Oct. 18, 2006: high hurdles for law departments that want to succeed; March 28, 2006: too early to talk about how diversity gets implemented and measured; and July 10, 2007: affinity groups and a justification for non-male groups.).

Diversity considerations bear on several management areas (See my posts of Oct. 29, 2005 and Jan. 30, 2006: attributes for outside counsel selection; and Jan. 10, 2006: methods to fertilize creative thinking.).

Full post as published by Law Department Management on June 17, 2008 (boomark / email).