DIVERSITY NEWS
BY LORI GARRETT
MCCA RELEASES NEW RESEARCH REPORT ON DIVERSITY IN CORPORATE LEGAL DEPARTMENTS
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MCCA IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF ITS Sustaining Pathways to Diversity® A Comprehensive Examination of Diversity Demographics, Initiatives, and Policies in Corporate Legal Departments research report. T is is MCCA’s 10th report, and it is benchmark research spotlighting diversity demographics within corporate legal departments. T is important and timely study also examines specifi c eff orts and initiatives undertaken by companies to support and promote diversity and inclusion throughout the legal industry. T is report was written in collaboration with the NALP Foundation. Supporting and improving diversity and inclusion in the
legal industry has been an important and challenging busi- ness strategy for corporations and their legal departments for a number of years. T e fi ndings in this report refl ect data collected in the fi rst quarter of 2011 from online surveys completed by 765 corporate legal departments. T ree per- cent of the responding legal departments had headquarters outside of the United States, with approximately two-thirds of those located in Canada. T e report on this study of diversity and inclusion is seg-
mented into three major sections: (1) diversity demographics, (2) diversity program structures and administration, and (3) tracking and measuring outside counsel eff orts. T e major fi ndings are summarized below.
CORPORATE LEGAL DEPARTMENT DIVERSITY DEMOGRAPHICS Respondents were asked to provide the number of attorneys in their U.S. legal departments as well as a breakdown of those attorneys by race/ethnic minority, gender, sexual orientation, and physically challenged or disabled status. T e respondents consisted of law departments of various sizes. Approximately 62 percent of the responding legal departments employed 10 or fewer attorneys, while 17 percent reported legal departments of over 50 attorneys. Overall, 20 percent of the responding legal departments reported that their top legal offi cer position was held by an
DIVERSITY & THE BAR® JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012
individual who is a racial/ethnic minority. T irty-six percent of the respondents reported that their top legal offi cer was a woman, while only 9 percent reported that the position was held by a racial/ethnic minority woman. T irty-one percent of the legal departments with only
one employee (who would most commonly also be consid- ered the top legal offi cer) reported that those individuals were racial/ethnic minority attorneys. In contrast, only 10 percent of the responding departments of more than 75 attorneys reported that their top legal offi cer was a racial/ ethnic minority. For additional fi ndings, see Table 1. Legal departments of up to fi ve attorneys reported the
highest percentage of total other attorneys who are race/ethnic minorities (21 percent). Departments of 26 to 75 attorneys reported the lowest percentage of total other attorneys who are race/ethnic minorities (15 percent).
CORPORATE LEGAL DEPARTMENT DIVERSITY PROGRAM STRUCTURES AND ADMINISTRATION Overall, only 30 percent of responding legal departments reported having some type of diversity and inclusion program. However, the larger the department, the more likely it was to have a program in place. For example, only 14 percent of the small departments with 2 to 5 attorneys reported having a diversity program, while 87 percent of respondents with over 75 attorneys favorably responded to having a formal or informal program. T irty-one percent of the legal departments of 11 to 25
attorneys reported having special outreach or recruiting eff orts to attract racial/ethnic minority attorneys, while midsized departments of 26 to 75 and large departments of 76 or more attorneys reported having these outreach eff orts in place at much higher percentages, 52 percent and 74 percent, respectively. Overall, only 13 percent of the responding legal departments stated that they had special outreach eff orts in place for attracting women attorneys,
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