Everyone talks about the business case for diversity, but when it comes to large

Many law firms understand the importance of building a diverse workforce. The changing demographics within the United States have signaled to firms that diversity is an important goal that will affect the firm’s viability and ultimately the bottom line. In response, many firms have launched diversity recruitment efforts designed to bring more women and attorneys of color into the firm. The problem has been that within a few years of being hired attorneys that qualify as “diverse” leave the firm in search of more inclusive, diverse and culturally competent work environments.

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The 2003 EEOC Diversity in Law Firms Study 2003 study examines the employment status of women and people of color at law firms required to file EEO-1 "Employer Information Reports" breaking down the racial, ethnic, and gender composition of an employer's workforce by job classification. The study also looks at the relationship between firm characteristics and the employment of people of color and women. Results suggest that the most pressing equal employment issue in large national law firms is no longer hiring but conditions of employment, especially promotion to partnership.

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The Minority Corporate Counsel Association presented its 2006 Survey of Fortune 500 Women General Counsel showed that the number of women general counsel increase to 83--up from 76 reported in the 2005 survey. The Minority Corporate Counsel Association also took a look at women general counsel in the Fortune 501-1000.

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The Minority Corporate Council Association recently updated Pathways to Diversity®: A Study of Law Department Best Practices. The report is a combination of research and in-depth interviews corporate legal departments. The diversity practices of 48 companies were studied. The original study was published in 2000.

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Minority Law Journal surveyed 255 of the largest and highest-grossing firms in the country. We included the 250 biggest firms as ranked by The National Law Journal, as well as five firms that made The American Lawyer’s Am Law 200, but didn’t make the NLJ 250. (The National Law Journal and The American Lawyer are both ALM publications.) A total of 240 firms reported ethnic data for this year’s Scorecard. Firms are identified by their main or largest office. Partner statistics include both equity and nonequity partners. Nonpartner figures include associates as well as special counsel, of counsel, and other staff attorneys. “Other minorities” includes Native Americans and those attorneys who said they were multiracial. (must register to access this study)

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According to “Visible Invisibility: Women of Color in Law Firms,” a report by The ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, women of color experience unique disadvantages based on race in addition to gender. White women experience such events based on gender alone, men of color experience such events based on race alone, and white men have virtually no first-hand or personal experience with discrimination.

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