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“I was part of a


recruiting law fi rm group in Boston, and we reached a plateau. I was starting to realize it was the environment that we were inviting people into that needed to be changed,” Myers says. “First and


42


foremost is the issue of culture,” she says. “It’s so hard to change because of the invisibles—implicit bias— where people are acting out of their stereotypes without realizing that they are doing it. T eir response is based on an implicit bias that might be quite diff erent than their explicit beliefs.” Myers off ers three basic steps for fi rm leaders


to change the conversation from diversity to inclusion:


• Become more culturally competent. Develop skills, knowledge, and attitude that show white supervisors how to work with people who are diff erent.


• Get out of denial. Go looking for your biases and counter them.


• Own your privilege without feeling guilty about it. Accept the fact that you have privilege and fi gure out how to use it.


“T at’s on a personal level, but it also


translates organizationally as well,” says Myers, author of Moving Diversity Forward: How To Go From Well-Meaning to Well-Doing and the forth- coming follow-up What If I Say the Wrong T ing: Learning the Language of Inclusion. “T e organiza- tion has to know where the biases [are] embedded in the evaluation and promotion process.”


DIVERSITY & THE BAR® JULY/AUGUST 2012


She says she’s opti-


mistic about the capacity for fi rms to change. “You need people to keep push- ing. I see some people understand- ing this,” Myers says. “Change


happens once an


organization realizes that


it cannot get a diff erent result


without changing what they do. I think people are starting to see. It’s been a course correction by VERNĀ MYERS MYERS IS PRINCIPAL


OF HER EPONYMOUS CONSULTING GROUP.


RETAINING GOOD TALENT Firms are seeking a more com- mon sense approach to the issue


of retention, development, and advancement of female and diverse attorneys (racial/ethnic minorities and LGBT). Since 2004, the legal profession has slipped to last place among all other professions in terms of representation by racially/ethnically diverse attorneys, accord- ing to a study conducted by the American Bar Association. Only 11 percent of attorneys in the United States are racial/ethnic minorities com- pared to over 30 percent of the workforce, accord- ing to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “T e legal profession is frequently at the bot-


tom of the list, literally we’re stuck in last place,” says Nalty of the Center for Legal Inclusiveness. T at frustrates her since “we are the guardians of equity and justice and we are the worst. T at’s part of what drives me. I’ve seen so many people’s dreams ripped to shreds. “New attorneys of color believe the myth that


hard work is the ticket to success,” Nalty says. “T ey don’t yet know that the intangibles are critical to their advancement and future opportu- nities. Many of these attorneys get left out if they


MCCA.COM looking at this idea of inclusion.”


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