Corporate counsel, with their power of the purse, are well-positioned to drive greater diversity in big law firms.
At least that’s the common wisdom. And there are plenty of stories floating around of companies firing (or starving) outside counsel with persistently poor diversity records. That’s what makes the diversity statistics from the most recent edition of the Thomson Reuters Legal Tracker LDO Index a head-scratcher. Based on survey responses from 155 law departments, here are the bewildering diversity Q&As:
Groping for a silver lining, the folks at TR commented, “Only 5% of legal departments have required diversity information for more than three years. It is, however, encouraging that 6% of legal departments have launched a diversity initiative within the past year, and that 10% of legal departments plan to launch a diversity initiative in the coming year.”
Stay tuned.
Published January 9, 2019.
